A poet may take all manner of liberties with words and their meaning—indeed with language itself—yet the pedant purist within me is grappling with the technical difference between “mist” and “fog”—poetically exchangeable but meteorologically distinct.

In “Mist from the Mountains”, I am determined to keep the poem true to the scene that inspired it—one with fog, not mist—meaning that I might forego the working title and certain lines to that end.

This may appear absurd, but somehow to me in this particular work, the detail in question lends to the poem a greater authenticity. There are times when I happily use artistic freedom to achieve a charming line, but “Mist from the Mountains” forbids me.