Fonds consists mainly of poems by Gordon Burles, 1970-2017. Manuscripts contain about twenty-seven hundred poems, mainly in free verse, some with revisions. Poems are numbered in chronological order. About 2016 Burles stopped numbering each poem. The year of creation is indicated with each poem.…
ca. 36.5 cm textual records + 9 CD-R (textual records). -- 7 photographs : prints, negatives.
History / Biographical
James Gordon Burles, b.1949, is a poet, surveyor and civil servant at Banff, Alberta, Canada. A native of Banff, Burles is a student of the Canadian Rockies. In Burles' own words, much of his poetry is inspired by four environments: the life and history of Banff National Park, the town of Banff, the Okanagan Valley, and Calgary.
Scope & Content
Fonds consists mainly of poems by Gordon Burles, 1970-2017. Manuscripts contain about twenty-seven hundred poems, mainly in free verse, some with revisions. Poems are numbered in chronological order. About 2016 Burles stopped numbering each poem. The year of creation is indicated with each poem. Some poems pertain to mountain personalities such as Bill Peyto, Norman Sanson, Margaret Stone, Walter D. Wilcox, Walter J. Phillips, Conrad Kain, and Georgia Engelhard. Many are surrealist or nonsense poems and many deal with the Cemetery Tea House, an imaginary teahouse frequented by various characters.
Fonds consists of three series: I : Poetry Manuscripts; II : Prose and research; III: Digital typeset copies of published poems
Some poems deal with Burle's parents and family. The collection also holds fifty-three books and booklets, self-published by the author from 1984 to 2017. The books published from 2003 to 2017 contain all the poems which the author considers worth preserving. Some in one book have been revised in a later book. Some poems were revised more than once. The three books published in 1984, 1986, and 1990 are considered by the author as early works. Only the poems in those books that the author considered worth publishing have been republished in the 2003-2017 books. Names in the poem titles are usually made up.
Some titles are tongue-in-cheek. There were so many poems that the author resorted to names like "Portrait for Bertrand Clerihew-Guggenheim" to make it easier. Some titles, of course, are obviously connected to the content of the poem. Many titles were long enough to preclude the difficulty of getting the graphic designer to centre the title over the poem! Also included are manuscripts, research materials, articles, and notes etc. regarding Bill Peyto, the Copper Mountain Mine, Banff National Park museum, logging roads in the Johnson Lake area, and the Sanson-Bethune connection.
Photographs pertain to remains of hay rake and wagon in the Third Vermilion Lake area (1975) and remains of the Queen of the Hills Mine, above Silver City (1977).
CD-ROMS's contain typeset copies of manuscripts by Gordon Burles in Pagemaker, In Design and .pdf file formats. Manuscripts include "The Jagged Harmony," 2005, "An Avenue Without End," 2005, "That Perfect Elsewhere," n.d., "Much Like A Dream," 2004, "All the Universe of Sight," 2006, "Those Grand Poplars," 2004, "Lords of Many Orchards: Selected Best Poems of Gordon Burles," 2003, "That trellis of tombs: Further Selected Poems of Gordon Burles," 2004, "The Closing of Many Doors: More Poems by Gordon Burles," 2006.
II : Prose and research includes "Life story of James Gordon Burles," 2022
Notes
Books of poetry published by Gordon Burles are located in the Whyte Museum Archives Library 05.1/B92.
In 2018 Gordon Burles compiled a listing of the original poems that were edited and re-published. This list is in the M196 document file, and is also a PDF attached to the fonds level record
Pertains to the works of Gordon Burles, a poet of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The poet’s work reflects a somber undertone, and covers topics pertaining to people, places, and nature.
Notes
Annotated – the author has signed the front page with the following, “To Liz – best wishes, from Gordon Burles”
Accession Number
2017.8683
Call Number
05.1 B92t Pam
Collection
Archives Library
URL Notes
The URL is linked to the Gordon Burles fonds held at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.
Contents: Poet’s night out (p.2); To my wife (p.2); Winter near Fairholme (p.3); Where Kathleen lives (p.3); Dawn reverie (p.4); At the Bankhead Station, autumn (p.4); Mt. Norquay Road (p.5); After the climb (p.6); Banff autumn(p.7); Motley (p.8); Boots and saddle (p.8); Cascade wash (p.9); The great trash dump (p.10); Would I were there (p.11); At the lake (p.12); Destiny (p.12); Fairholme spruce (p.13); The visitor (p.14); Going to Bourgeau Lake (p.14); The great house (p.15); The camp trip (p.16); The farewell (p.16); 1925 (p.17); For Fay (p.17); Midnight creed (p.18); For the Greek dead (p.19); Fairholme peak (p.19); Winter journey (p.20); From sadness (p.21); Grief (p.21); Prayer (p.22); Beatitude (p.22); Visions in August (p.23); Scottie and the moon (p.23); The honeysuckle (p.24); Summer idyll (p.24); For Will Durant (p.25); Anticipation (p.26); Imperial peace (p.27); Chinese market garden, 1956 (p.27); Wandering (p.28); That ancient vision (p.28); Cleomenes remembers (p.29); Anthracite (p.30); Midnight vision (p.30); The view (p.31); Adeimantus dying (p.31); There are mountains (p.32); Spring storm (p.32); Moments alone (p.33); Now, dear Leander (p.34); Life’s logolithos (p.34); The knight (p.35); Two friends (p.35); During the war (p.36); My story (p.37); Hermione’s rodeo (p.37); Funeral oration (p.38); Mistress of Fairholme (p.38); For Georgia Engelhard (p.39); Worship (p.39); Cyrenaica (p.40); Edwardian road (p.40); Plato’s confession (p.41); Scimitar (p.42); His rhapsody (p.42); Archaica (p.43); Sunday(p.43); Ariston (p.44); Sunday morning (p.44); Le cimetiere(p.45); Night avenue (p.45); L’Etre humain (p.46); Summer (p.46); Near Inglismaldie (p.47); Invitation (p.47); Plato (p.48); Saturday night (p.49); Chinatown (p.49); Late Victoriana (p.50); After the rain (p.50); Yuletide (p.51); The old story (p.51); To be oneself (p.52); Lydia (p.52); Metropolis (p.53); Life-soldier (p.53); China (p.54); Huay (p.54); Wind-song (p.55); The buntiad (p.55); Bankhead visit (p.56); Good intentions (p.57); Beijing (p.57); Antiquity (p.58); Nature (p.58); Bucolic cerebration (p.59); Dream tour (p.60); Shakespeare (p.60); In the land of the toy Teuton (p.61); Before waking (p.61); Sobbing: Rockbound Lake (p.62); At the Chateau Lake Louise (p.62); Cleanthes’ vision (p.63); Kathleen remembers (p.63); City (p.64); Natalie (p.64); Vision for Matsuko (p.65); The other (p.65); Mont. St. Eloi (p.66); At the forest’s edge (p.66); Afterwhere (p.67); The soldier (p.68); Abrasions (p.68); Rural sojourn (p.69); After the flowering (p.70); Plato in the canyon (p.71); Andalusia (p.72); Secrets (p.72); Tears for old Lacerta (p.73); Along the canal (p.73); The shadowy house (p.74); A rainy Sunday(p.74); The era of sleep (p.75); While we slumber (p.76); For Edward (p.76); Twilight (p.77); Sunday dancing (p.77); After the hike (p.78); Return of the Magi (p.79); The final afternoon (p. 80); The new improved ecstasy (p.81); Midnight at Banff (p.82); Out for a stroll (p.82); Vision from a landfill (p.83); Le grand hotel (p.83); Somewhere in Attica (p.84); Deleterium (p.85); Nightfall (p.85); Just one more palimpsest (p.86); Piche Peak (p.86); Isabel (p.87); Sacrament (p. 87); Aegean days (p.88); Meditation in a canyon (p.88); In Fairholme’s shadow (p.89); Ripeness is all (p.90); The temple (p.90); The canyon (p.91); Lewis Crescent (p.91); The refuge (p.92)