Might Should by Elise Powers

To be brave and unsure, to hold two contradicting things in the same mouth.

Might Should

by Elise Powers

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My grandmother was the only person
I’ve ever heard use the phrase might should—
the uncommon marriage of two helping verbs 
that, when joined, suggest both 
hesitation and intent.
To be brave and unsure,
to hold two contradicting things 
in the same mouth. 
It was a weld of words that, to my child brain,
meant almost nothing,
like a middle name or a silent e.
I might should call her back.
We might should go to the grocery store.
You might should bring a jacket. 

After she died, the phrase swirled 
and sloshed through my brain—
pulled me into the undertow where her voice 
now exists as a shell song. 
My grandmother was a woman who 
placed her words like steppingstones: 
thoughtfully, deliberately. 

All these years later, I understand why,
of the phrases she might have favored,
she chose the one that sounded 
like the hush between tides—
one that left a bit of space
for pause, for grace, 
for things still taking shape.