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

Tiger Park

Our Indian driver and guide parked us a few strides from a pink-and-black-nosed young tiger with blond teddy-bear ears and stark whiskers. We watched long moments as he reclined, our view unobstructed but for flimsy weeds. I’d been warned not to stare but was lost in reverence, enchanted by our taut intimacy. He stood to confront me. His roar reverberated in my bones. Like a tabby cat mesmerized by laser dots, he shifted his hindquarters side to side. He leaped effortlessly. It was mystical enlightenment to know that I was to die from wounds inflicted by this breathtaking beast.

Cecily Winter is a former college teacher and wildlife enthusiast. Her published writings include academic work as Susan B. Iwanisziw and short pieces as Cecily Winter. Find Cecily at cecilywinter.com and on Twitter @winter_cecily.

To Die Young

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