We've featured possibly hundreds of poets on this newscast but none was more expected than the verse put out by ASP Edward Broaster, the prototypical street cop. As we found out last year, Broaster has a sensitive side and he is proving this year that he's getting even softer with a second book of poetry. He told us that, for sure, this one is the best work he's done yet:
Edward Broaster- Poet
"You always hear a writer say: ‘the next book is better than the first one,' but I believe that all the poems that I've written so far are good."
(Edward Broaster Reciting)
The logs are rolled down the river
Floated to the se for ships to deliver
A spectacular site to see so many logs chained
Old tug boats pulling them without strain
Cutters bust their brain, as home they ride
Plotting what portion of their pay to hide
Provisions to be bought, bills to be paid
Pondering which of the homes his head will be laid
Children here and children there
Boasting this without a world of care
"That poem there, I was inspired by a photograph actually, a photograph of chained Mahogany and just, my mind just flashed back to those days and the stories that I've heard from very old experienced men you know. That's the wood cutters days in a nutshell."
Jules Vasquez
"You can't seriously run up on me when you are writing a poem named: ‘Without you'."
Edward Broaster
"(Laughs) I can tell you Jules, I can write a poem ‘Without you' for sure because without you on the street the public will be more safer. So while the poem is about love but no Jules I separate my profession life from my writing, from being a poet."
Jules Vasquez
"O.K. so if they gave you a choice, well either you stop writing poems or stop being a policeman? Which would you choose."
Edward Broaster
"That would be a hard thing Jules, that would be a very hard thing. But I'm not going to stop writing and I'm not going to stop being a policeman until I become commissioner of police one day."
Broaster's book is presently available at C-Y's and Chon Saan Palace.