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

Working at Home

I streamed a new NBC show about a neurodivergent doctor. It was a House rip-off. But that didn’t stop me from crying within the first three minutes. After that, I pulled a Tarot card while wondering if I should text Kelly, except I already knew the answer was No No No. Don’t text her. I was singing Indigo Girls’ “Share the Moon” while I held the cards. And then I pulled a card from the bottom third of the deck and it was XVIII. The Moon. And I thought Wow, I really am a witch. And also Don’t text her.

Carmela Starace is a lesbian living in New Mexico. Follow her on Instagram @carmelastaracewrites.

Seven Years Old

Rings