What Needs Doing by Jenna Jaco
Poetry Editor Andrew Walker on today’s poem:
“What Needs Doing” by Jenna Jaco is a reminder that the words “I love you” are not heard but seen, that love is an action more than it is a feeling. Jaco’s poem lives in this action, wielding a powerful momentum that pushes the reader through each couplet. Like love, “What Needs Doing” is sweet and silly and surprising, crafted with purpose and given as one would a gift.
What Needs Doing
Once, pink and breathing hard,
I tried explaining bell hooks to my mom,
just the stuff about love being an action,
a ball you get up and roll on the daily.
My persistent dorodango. When
I say I love someone I say it like
I polish the brass lamp and hand them
the cloth. If I love you I’ve procured a cloth.
I’ve found a cupboard for the cloths.
I love you as in if you wanted
to change your gender marker I would
FUCK SHIT UP at the DMV.
I love you meaning I press the button
that gives you a sandwich. I press the button
that maybe does not kill you.
When I love you I catch your head.
If my mom texts now, she does not say
I love you. Instead: sending love.
A box I need to come sign for,
except I’m up on my high horse,
and I admit I don’t see the heads
I do not catch, or all the buttons
I press, or who made them, or
who makes the sandwiches.
From my woke gay horse
I am rolling my love ball for you.
On bad days I think this
is not so different from the box
and the sending. I am handing you
a cloth from a sus cupboard.
I am cleaning our lamp. I am standing
in an imaginary DMV ready to bristle
like my dad when he took his gun
to the zoo, when they were like, sir,
you can’t have that here.
I am sitting on the ground
cupping my hands for your head.
Receive them.
Jenna Jaco (they/she) is the author of Mall Water (Kith Books, 2024), a poetry collection about fluidity, rage, and shopping. Follow Jenna on Twitter @jennajaco
If you would like to show your appreciation for the writer’s work, you can send them a tip through venmo: @Jenna-Jaco
