Book Launch: The Bunch Grass Motel, a collection of poems by Randall Gloege

This House of Books is host to the launch party for The Bunch Grass Motel, a collection of poetry by the late MSU-B professor Randall Gloege, a man described by one colleague as a “wry poet-philosopher.”

As a special treat to those who attend this event, we will be serving Brioche samples, a French bread treat whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb, compliments of Le Fournil Bakery here in downtown Billings.

Born in Helena and reared in Miles City, Gloege chose the landscapes of the West to provide the setting for most of the poems in The Bunch Grass Motel. Some of these poems are reflective, some angry, some humorous.

A man of wide-ranging interests, over the span of his 26-year career at MSU-B, Gloege served at one time and another as Assistant Professor of English, Associate Director of Environmental Studies Program, and as Director of General Studies. He retired from teaching in 2006.

Before his death in 2013, Gloege endowed two MSU-B scholarships, awarded each year to students in creative writing and environmental studies, respectively. Revenue from The Bunch Grass Motel will help to fund the endowment.

Gloege's work for this volume was collected and edited posthumously by his colleague Bernard Quetchenbach. The foreword was written by a former student, Cathy Ulrich; the introduction by another colleague, William Kamowski; and the afterword by one of Gloege’s “wilderness” friends, Howie Wolke.

Quetchenbach, Kamowski, Ulrich, and Wolke will present at the launch party.