Might Could
“In Might Could, Anna Lena Phillips Bell emerges as one of the best lyric poets writing in America today, and simultaneously emerges as an even more profoundly rare poet—a poet who has discovered not only a new song, but a new way of making musicality the first concern of poetry. Hers is an irresistible art.”—Shane McCrae
Winner of the 20th Anthony Hecht Prize, forthcoming March 2026 from Waywiser Books. Preorders open January 2026.
Might Could considers how to make a life in hurricane country, amid a verdant landscape touched by industrial pollution and the climate crisis. Poems to familiar plants and to everyday objects—marigolds, a vase, a spoon—invite the reader in, while others act as notes to self, offering wry reminders. At the collection’s core is an extraordinary crown, “Bref Doubles for a Late Conception,” imagining a hoped-for child. Even as they carry the knowledge of potential and actual harm, Bell’s profound, tender poems establish an expansive sense of place and play. With precise intonation, uncanny and often exuberant diction, and subtle humor, Might Could contemplates meaningful companionship with one’s own body, with human family, and with the more-than-human world.
Cover art: Amber Cowan, Fox with Strawberry Stash Sitting in Fern Grove, 2024
Winner of the 20th Anthony Hecht Prize, forthcoming March 2026 from Waywiser Books. Preorders open January 2026.
Might Could considers how to make a life in hurricane country, amid a verdant landscape touched by industrial pollution and the climate crisis. Poems to familiar plants and to everyday objects—marigolds, a vase, a spoon—invite the reader in, while others act as notes to self, offering wry reminders. At the collection’s core is an extraordinary crown, “Bref Doubles for a Late Conception,” imagining a hoped-for child. Even as they carry the knowledge of potential and actual harm, Bell’s profound, tender poems establish an expansive sense of place and play. With precise intonation, uncanny and often exuberant diction, and subtle humor, Might Could contemplates meaningful companionship with one’s own body, with human family, and with the more-than-human world.
Cover art: Amber Cowan, Fox with Strawberry Stash Sitting in Fern Grove, 2024
