Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here

Occipital Storm

The noise is painful. The fan is blowing, the dog is panting, the other dog is barking, the other dog is click-clacking on the floor, and the kid is singing while playing a game on a tablet with extremely obnoxious background noise. He is also tapping his foot. I ask my husband if he will build me a guillotine. It turns out he likes me and refuses to do any such thing. If he really loved me, he would build me the fucking guillotine. My shoulders burn. My throat feels like it is closing. My eyes hurt. Am I dying?

Tristan Manzolini is a chronically ill unschooling mom with a house full of dogs and a heart full of dreams. Visit her on Instagram @chronicallytristan.

Roadkill

First Love