conspiracy:
from the Latin to breathe together
sun whispers secrets
of light into leaves
rain sings love songs
through roots and branches
white blossoms burst open
offering pollen to bees
plump purple berries conspire
with cedar waxwings to
spread seeds
serviceberry breathes in
leaf with light
root with rain
blossom with bee's wing
berry with bird's beak
serviceberry breathes out
bird's beak with berry
bee's wing with blossom
rain with root
light with leaf
serviceberry thrives and survives
in balance and reciprocity
she is breathing the universe into being
In her book The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World1 Robin Wall Kimmerer teaches us that wealth comes not from the amount of our possessions, but from the quality of our relationships with everything around us.
Indigenous people have always known that thriving and indeed, surviving depends on the reciprocity of all beings. The phrase “All my relations” translated as Nindinawemaganidog in Anishinaabemowin, is a foundational worldview that all creation is deeply interconnected and interdependent and we are all part of one sacred web of life.
These teachings are now being borne out by research that has shown that plants cooperate more often than compete2 and interestingly, quantum theory is speculating that even at the sub atomic level, we cannot fully separate observer, instrument and observed phenomenon.
Physicists such as Carlo Rovelli3 and Karen Barad4 speculate that reality is not made up of independent objects, but from phenomena that emerge through relationships. For Barad, we are “participants in an ongoing process of world-making”, where matter, meaning, and agency emerge together through entanglement. In this view, nothing comes fully into being alone; each existence is shaped by its encounters with others, human and more-than-human alike.
- Kimmerer, Robin Wall, and John Burgoyne. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. First Scribner hardcover ed., Scribner, 2024
- Schlanger, Zoë. The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth. Harper, 2024.
- Rovelli, Carlo. On the Equality of All Things: Lessons on Physics and Philosophy. Simon & Schuster, 2026.
- Barad, Karen. “On Touching—the Inhuman That Therefore I Am.” differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, vol. 23, no. 3, 2012, pp. 206–223.
Music pairing: Parachutes by Merlyn Driver, 2025g
This poem was conceived and grown organically from my own unique human experience, thoughts, efforts, knowledge and research.
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You say it very well. Genevieve Vaughan calls this recognition of interdependence the Maternal Gift Economy Movement, based on the relationship between a mother and child.
Thank you for that reminder Judith! It occurs to me that Karen Barad would be an interesting speaker for the Gift Economy Salons.
A great conspiracy theory, sistah! So far, my favorite. “The Universe is patiently waiting for us to sharpen our senses.” I relish this eloquent connecting of the dots, of how the web works. Thank you!
Thank you darling Kate!! ❤️🍃