Radicle, or When the World Lived Inside Us: Poems

The word radicle is defined as the root of a plant embryo, the first organ to appear when a seed germinates. It grows downward into the soil, anchoring the seedling, a symbol of growth and grounding.

Steph Catudal is beloved for her poignant meditations on loss, uncertainty, and illness, and the raw, wise reflections of her “brilliant, unflinching, lyrical” (Matt Haig) New York Times bestselling memoir Everything All At Once.

Now, Catudal brings her trademark wisdom and strong lyrical voice to bear in her first collection of verse, delving into the challenging yet often rich parts of life people often lack the courage to face. Radicle, or When the World Lived Inside Us explores universal themes of motherhood, our relationship to the natural world, the nature of suffering, the circular process of healing, and what it means to stay present in the midst of it all.

watching starlings nest: 

braving the elements for a chance 

to witness some part of me live on, 

gathering twigs and twine for 

the promise of future, to 

reach for my own hand, 

fire and all, and say 

good girl, good girl 

it's time to come home.