"may I ask
you to tell me why you think this provincial American poet has for his muse a
versipel, who I believe he says, is always with him. What can he possibly mean
by it?" ( Carolyn Kunin)
Versipel might suggest werewolves with
their inverted skin, as in Fred Vargas' "L´homme ŕ l'envers",
Hiawatha's gloves and, more prosaically, hats and coats made of animal
skin worn with the furry side in.
But we must keep in mind that it refers to "that odd
muse of mine, / My versipel, is with me everywhere,/
In carrel and in car, and in my
chair." Then it might lead us to imagine a special
metamorphosis, like the one Carolyn Kunin suggests ( Shade/
Kinbote; Kinbote/Botkin ), or some other
transformation: a green jewel-case discarded by a
cicada, butterfly wings, a corporeal being turned
into shadow, a pile of verse carried in his
pocket?
Who knows...
Jansy