Radicle, or When the World Lived Inside Us: Poems

by Steph Catudal

From the New York Times bestselling author Everything All at Once comes a beautiful poetry collection exploring motherhood, grief, the unending road to healing, and the redeeming power of love.

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.


Who was I before pain

cracked me open

to all of this beauty,

all this torment?

How do I recall

that we were all once soft and open

and the world lived inside us?

—from When the World Lived Inside Us

Genres: Poetry

1 pages, Audio CD

Published October 28, 2025

Reviews

[Kelsey B · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Look!
the moon shines a crescent
from where we sit
but up there
she's always whole"

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Poignant. Stark. Wonderful.

[Alicia Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was waiting for what feels like YEARS for this poet to release a full-length poetry collection! Worth the wait. Perfect for women (especially mothers, though I am not one) in their late 30s. Perfect for those who carry grief in their bones alongside hope in their hearts. Fans of TRADITIONAL poetry will really enjoy this book.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book broke me in all the right ways. The level of sensory detail is just right and Catudal poignantly captures what it's like to be in the sandwich generation.

[Eteocles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a very irregular collection of poems about plants and life.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okish. A little overly sentimental.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I absolutely loved Catudel’s memoir. This being a book of poetry, it is obviously very different, but I can still strongly feel Catudel’s voice across both books.

She is clearly a lover of language. There were many times reading her poetry where I saw words I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

Many of her poems are about motherhood and about (I assume) the loss of her father. While I am not a mother and my father is still alive, there is a resonance in her writing to the universality of the human experience.

I like to read poetry aloud, and recommend doing that while reading Catudel’s poetry. I found in doing so, the poems came alive at a slower cadence than I would read most poetry.