Pushcart 2026 L: Amy Lee Lillard, “Typical Girls” from Exile in Guyville (BOA 2024)

One by one, the hotel guests got the look. They’d come to Cherie’s concierge desk, eyes nearly crossed, listening to the voice in their head. And when they tried to pair with Cherie, and found she didn’t have hOS, word got back to management. So one Thursday, after a one-on-one with her supervisor, Cherie stood in line at the hOS pop-up kiosk in the subway station. She read three screens of instructions, ten screens of contracts, and seventeen screens of waivers on her tab. She gritted her teeth, felt the implant as a click and a crunch against her spine, paid, and ran to the trash can near the turnstile to vomit. …. Everyone said hOS changed their life. Just like the waitresses at the hotel bar, and the maids, and the counter clerks. She set her sights lower: keep her job. The problem with pastiche, homage, tribute et al is that you have to be sure your audience knows what you’re pastiching. And it has to be good enough to stand on its own. My hot take on this story was: I’m sorry,…