Muth's Muse: Teacher, ranger, farmer, pens book of poems
Poet, teacher, Bob Muth at his place at the base of the Swan Range.
A man who many Columbia Falls folks will remember as their notable junior high English teacher has published a new book of poems celebrating Glacier National Park.
Bob Muth recently published “The Meaning of McDonald Creek and other Poems.” It’s a collection of poems he’s written over the years inspired by the national park in our backyard.
Muth, 80, draws his muse from the landscape where he hikes several times a week as a volunteer backcountry ranger for the Park Service, as in the opening lines of “Sandhill Cranes of the North Fork.”
In the beginning,
Before the distraction of names
There were sandhill cranes
Walking on long legs of possibility
“I take notes while I’m hiking,” he said during a recent interview. “...It’s listening and putting down the words that come out.”
It is not easy
To tell if the world
Is getting larger
Or smaller
When mountains and rivers
Are in charge of the news
Muth has had a lifelong love for verse, He taught poetry at the junior high level as part of the English curriculum. Every year his classes would produce a book of poems.
He’s always had an affection for the natural world. He grew up in East Louisville, Kentucky, went to the University of Colorado. After graduation, he wanted to move to Alaska, but his wife, Lori, wanted to live closer to family in Colorado so they decided on Montana.
When they were first looking at property to buy, they considered purchasing the Polebridge Mercantile, which at the time was for sale for $21,000. That included the saloon and 120 acres.
“I really wanted to buy it,” Muth said.
But instead they bought a small farm at the base of the Swan Range and tried to make a go as farmers, raising animals, crops and even milking a few cows.
Muth didn’t start teaching until he was 50 and retired at age 70. Today he does the rangering every other day and also delivers meals once a week for Meals on Wheels. Most of the farm animals are gone, save for the family dog and a grizzly bear or two that wander into the far back lot and help themselves to an apple from an aging tree.
Muth’s poetry is accessible to the reader. He notes that “a lot of poets write for other poets and are hard to understand.”
His verse caters to the common man.
...Somehow we know
That wonder will always survive
Beyond our words and gaze. Even
The shadows are part of a holy
Scheme. God has ten thousand eyes.
— From “Rogers Meadow.”
Muth’s book is available at local bookstores and online.