South Street resident Scott Robertson will read selections from his book, Contents of a Curious Mind, Saturday, Aug. 8, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Red Bank Public Library.
The book is a collection of poems, cartoons, short sketches, one-liners and observations gathered over 54 years. Robertson traces its beginnings to his college days in upstate New York, including his time at SUNY Geneseo, when an English-class assignment prompted him to write a poem and helped start a lifelong habit of recording jokes, ideas and unusual observations about everyday life.
Over the years, he wrote those ideas on whatever happened to be within reach, including cocktail napkins, journals, loose sheets of paper and index cards typed on a 1936 L.C. Smith typewriter. He held onto the material with the thought that it might someday become a book.
That book began taking shape when Robertson brought the accumulated papers to Nova Scotia and began organizing them at a picnic table overlooking St. Margaret’s Bay. The finished collection includes 24 poems, about 100 thoughts and observations, 10 literary sketches, a section on getting older and a collection of cartoons.
Robertson said the humor and artwork were shaped in part by the comedians, writers and cartoonists he admired growing up. He credits Mad Magazine with helping him learn to draw cartoons and caricatures, and cites poet Robert Pinsky and deadpan humorist Steven Wright among his influences.
Robertson, 74, is a retired commercial banker who spent much of his career dealing with commercial real estate loans. He and his wife, Pat, have lived in Red Bank for seven years and previously operated Arrivée, a craft art gallery at 15 Broad Street, from 1998 to 2005.
He describes himself as an observer of human behavior who often sees ordinary life as a situation comedy. He said he wrote the book not for recognition, but to share his perspective and give readers something to think about, and something to laugh about.
Robertson hopes the book will also provide material for live performances combining poetry, stories, cartoons and one-liners. At an age when many people might be settling into retirement, he said he is ready to begin a new career as a writer and performer.
