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

The Gift

My mother has Alzheimer's. Whenever I visit we mostly sit as familiar strangers and talk about the tea. Once in a while, though, there’s a small window, five minutes max, when her eyes sparkle. One day I pointed out a misshapen clay pot I’d made for her. I suggested she throw it out. She smiled and replied that a little boy had made it for her using his own hands and all his love. "I’ll never throw out any of your gifts, John." We shared a moment, a memory, and then it was back to how tasty the tea was.

John White is a Canadian writer of poems, memoirs, and longer fiction. He explores mental health and depression in his writing. His blog is poppysmata.blogspot.com/.

Post-Op Report

Abundance