Jill Talbot was the grand prize winner of our inaugural Grouse Ground Lit Prize for V Short Forms! Read her winning piece, “Girls,” and get it in print in our Liminal issue 56.1!
Eliza here is obsessed with memes, she’s our meme girl, isn’t that right, Eliza? Girl One says.
Totally, I’m like totally obsessed with memes, look at this one, Girl Two says.
Girl Two shows her phone to me.
Get it? she says.
It’s a picture of Justin Bieber that says, Screwed. Not much to get. I nod.
Eliza often picks up randos from meetings and brings them out for girls’ night. Not that you’re a rando, of course! Girl One says.
Of course, I say.
So what do you do? Girl Three says.
I’m a meme critic, I say.
I’m in transition, I add.
What are you transitioning from or to? Girl One says.
Sarah! Girl Two says.
She’s fine, Girl One says.
I’m fine, I say.
She’s fine, Girl One says.
Everyone’s fine, I say.
Girl One, Two and Three sip their diet cokes simultaneously.
This is Shoshanna, this is Marnie and I’m Jessa, Girl One says, you can be our Hannah.
You know, from Girls? Girl Two says.
I’m not a girl, I say.
Oh my god, I’m so sorry, are you trans?
I’m not trans, just not a Girl. Be yourself, everyone else is taken, I say.
It’s a meme, I say.
That’s totally something Hannah would say, Girl Three says.
I’m suffocating, I say in my head.
I’m suffocating, I accidentally say out loud.
It’s a meme, I say.
Jill Talbot attended Simon Fraser University for psychology before pursing her passion for writing. Jill has appeared in Geist, Rattle, Poetry Is Dead, The Puritan, Matrix, subTerrain and The Tishman Review. Jill was shortlisted for the Matrix Lit POP Award for fiction and the Malahat Far Horizons Award for poetry. Jill lives on Gabriola Island, BC.