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

Waxing Crescent

In the consultant’s office, Mumma answers the questions I can’t. I’m weighed and measured. The height chart is just a ruler, not like the one in my bedroom with lions and giraffes and “Grow Wild” written on top. Mumma says I must sit my straightest, let the doctor bend and stretch me even though it makes my muscles pulse. I understand that “wild” isn’t permitted here, only normal. The doctor offers us an operation to reshape my crescent-moon feet. Mumma pauses. I tell him, “The moon’s actually the shape of a lemon.” He looks from me to Mumma. She’s smiling.

Keely O’Shaughnessy (she/her) is a writer with cerebral palsy who lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. When not writing, she likes discussing David Bowie with her cat. Find Keely at keelyoshaughnessy.com and on Twitter @KeelyO_writer.

Await

Ceremony