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

Pont d'Avignon

Young lovers, Ben and I were enthralled with the Palais des Papes: the center square where the festival of music was about to begin, the rose-shaped ice cream cones, and the carousel filled with French children. I was practically leaping in excitement to show him the oft-sung medieval bridge of Avignon, and we took off at a run. Our vacation couldn’t be more magical. I ran right into a low-hanging iron rope fence, landing chin to gravel. My camera on its lanyard embedded its lens deep into my gut. There I lay, curled up, the iconic bridge just beyond view.

Christi Byerly is the CEO of Awaken Coach Institute, which exists for your bravery. She trains depth coaches who want this world to be more loving for everyone.

Day Breaks

Petunias