over romaine greens.  I wonder
at the pleasure these pungent fungi

bring — gold in a chef’s pan.
White truffle oil, my preference,

more peppery than the black.
Makes sense — being part Sicilian —

that the robust Italian whites
appeal more than the tamer ebon

French ones.  All sub rosa
root-clinging symbiotic

fruiting tubers — a cabal
of crafty warty walnuts.

Beware the poisonous
false ones.  A bit of truffle

oil in brash hands can be
dreadful excess.  Know

the supreme risk —
a snuffling sow with a bent

for ravenous love when
that special pheromone flares.

Still, it’s truffles’ hidden
nature that intrigues —

concealed like the echoed
treasure of my memories,

my musings, secrets I let
drizzle in my mind.

Deanie Rowan Blank’s work has appeared in literary journals and magazines including: Edgar Literary Magazine, Main Channel Voices, Mediphors – a Literary Journal of Medical Professionals, Potpourri, Expressions, Saturday Magazine, Northeast Magazine and Poetica Magazine. She was finalist for the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival Tenth Anniversary Prize.