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

Sad Dolls

The girls brought out their sad dolls, destroyed from lack of brushing, and decided to donate them. On Father's Day. They proudly tell him about their choice. He smiles. I sigh. My husband does not like things. He grew up in a house with too many of them. They make reality tv shows about people like his mom. He wants a minimalist lifestyle; his mind is full of things he doesn't like. I remind him about Developmental Stages and Representational Play. The girls beg us not to fight, slinging dolls by their matted hair into plastic bags, awaiting more praise.

Lauren Dennis is a mother of two, fighting against the confinement that may contain. She writes and resides in Denver and has a mountain dulcimer

Refusal

The Hydrangea