...and Guppies Eat Their Young Deborah Filanowski staple-bound. 32 pp. $7.00 This book is currently unavailable.

Through its second reprint, ..and Guppies explores a woman, a mother, a wife embracing her roles within her family and the lunacy and struggles which accompany those roles. Reflecting herself as a symbol of motherhood and wifehood, she describes her remorse and resignation over who she has become and what opportunities she has left behind. The moments within are bittersweet, charming and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. A native of West Virginia Deborah Filanowski has called Schuylkill County home for the past 24 years. A graduate of WV University with a B.S. and M.A. and Certified Addictions Counselor, she is an adjunct faculty member of McCann School of Business and Technology. She reads at venues throughout Northeast and Central PA and NYC and has won several awards for her poetry. She is a member of Stray Dog Poets and BerksBards, serves on the board of the Gabriel Chamber Ensemble, and hosts an ongoing monthly poetry series at Stonehenge Gardens (stonhenge.org), Tamaqua, PA. She credits the inspiration, exacerbation and celebration in her life to her two daughters, Jennifer and Sarah. She also thanks Kate Potter, Marlene Rowe, stevenallenmay, and Dr. Vincent Balitas for their support and encouragement through the years. from Nature’s Lesson The snow piles up outside the door. I drink my second cup of coffee, reveling in the silence. The children wake, the stillness shatters With their chant “No school! No school!” The arguments begin. Who will walk the dog. What television show to watch. Power struggle for the remote control. Name-calling increases in frequency and intensity. Now I know why guppies eat their young. Breakfast. They argue about the menu, Then decide they are not hungry. When my arms are elbow high in suds Concocted to dissolve scum and skin, They announce they are ready to eat. Then whine when informed the kitchen is closed. Cowbirds lay their eggs in other bird’s nests.