Federal Way native Thomas Springer fell into writing poetry 35 years ago, as an elementary student whose imagination was stirred by every English class he took from then on.

Now in his 24th year of teaching at Wilson High School in Tacoma, he’s the proud author of a poetry collection compiled from the young beginnings of his writing career to now.

“I had a different way of looking at things than most people, even at an early age,” Springer said. “I took creative writing classes in high school, and my teachers and mentors told me some of the things I had written were publishable. When I turned 50, I realized I wanted to do something with everything I had written.”

The book is titled “Two Bits and Odd Days,” after a poem that holds much significance to him.

“It is about my inability to face my fears about publishing the book,” Springer said. “Many years passed between the decision to publish and the actual realization. ‘Two bits’ represents the money spent and perhaps wasted on other things, and ‘odd days’ represents the things that happened during that time span.”

Today, Springer often engages his children in wordplay and other exercises and games with an aim to inspire them. Beyond these puns and narratives, his children are also the subject of a number of the poems in his book.

His poems’ subject matter is a combination of narrative, life events and a number of creative elements, and often a product of scenes and moments that caused him to pause in day-to-day life.

“Sometimes things occur to me when I see something, and think, ‘Wow that’s an interesting concept,’ and jot it down,” Springer said.

His main belief is that his poems need to connect with an aspect of humanity in order to truly mean anything.

“I can paint a picture, but if you can’t be there to appreciate and absorb it, it’s just paint on a canvas,” Springer said. “If all I’ve done is string together letters and someone can’t get something from it, then what is it?”

One of the driving forces behind curating a compilation for Springer is his belief that his poems cannot stand alone. His poem, “Hero,” which depicts a large man and a small boat alone, is an example of a poem that becomes whole when surrounded by other perspectives.

“I’ve been coaxed to enter poetry contests but I don’t think a single poem can capture enough,” Springer said. “Some of my poems are two lines long.”

His book, on sale since the end of February, is self-published, and can be found online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. And his audience? “The kind that reads.”

“Art is beyond the creator, it’s about the people — I really believe that,” Springer said. “Poem, novel, painting or film, you have to communicate to somebody on some level.”