NORTH WEBSTER - Words of the Bible led Thomas Kruger to start writing poetry, which then led to Kruger's first and only book of poetry.
Kruger started writing poetry in February 1977, he said during an interview in his North Webster home Monday afternoon.
"I opened up the Bible for the first time and started to read and the poetry came just like that," he said.
After getting saved, he said he wrote three to four poems a day. More than 500 of the Christian poems he wrote are in his book "On the Wings of the Wind".
"There's all kinds in there. Goofy ones. Outdoor ones," he said.
Kruger got the book in the spring, but not too many people know about it yet. Previously, he had some little pamphlet-like books of his poems published about 11 years ago. Many of those are published again in the book.
RoseDogs Books published Kruger's book. He had to pay some money upfront, and will have to sell 400 of them to break even, he said. So far, he's sold 60 of them.
"They did a pretty good job of putting that together," Kruger said of the book.
Kruger sent his work to several different publishers, but there aren't many publishers who publish books of poetry, he said.
"I'm 73 years old and I don't think I'll get enough poems now for a second book. They don't come as fast. This may be my only book," Kruger said.
Most of the poems are about seven verses long, he said, and fit on about one page.
Kruger has become known enough for his poetry that for the past 15 years the license plates on his car have said "Poet". He also wears a jacket that says "The Poet" on the back.
He graduated from North Webster High School in 1955. In 1956, he married Alice. They have five daughters, 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren with two more on the way.
He worked at Silgan Pastics, formerly Monsanto, Ligonier, for 39 years and retired in 1999.
Besides writing poetry, Kruger also enjoys canoeing, fishing, playing ping pong at the North Webster Community Center and building large chess sets. The largest chess set he's built has an 11-inch king piece."I don't play much. I played a long time ago with the grandkids," he said.
Kruger said anyone interested in buying his poetry book can buy it from him for $41 and save the $4 shipping charge.
The book also can be ordered by calling 800-834-1803 or online at www.rosedogbookstore.com
