Inspiration for the title of Nancy Scott's fourth book of poetry, "Detours and Diversions," came in part from the path she said she has taken in life – one that often wanders from a predetermined course. 

That idea came to her recently on a walk in Lawrenceville with her 4-year-old granddaughter, recounted in a poem in the new collection.  "Stay on the path, Mimi," her granddaughter said.  "She tells me – 'Don't step out there, there are snakes and toadstools,'" Scott said.   

 "That is where the impetus for 'Detours and Diversions' came from," Scott said.    "I did all these things that were not pre-charted for me," she said.  "This 4-year-old told me to stay on the path, as my family has done."

That path has taken her from Chicago to her current residence in Lawrence Township.  She has lived in the area since 1966, when she came to New Jersey because her then-husband became a professor at Princeton University.  Over the years, that post brought with it travel around the world for sabbaticals, and she began her own career here in social work for the state, from which she retired in 2005.

Her experience working in the state Department of Community Affairs and the Division of Youth and Family Services since the 1970s emerges in her poetry as carefully wrought portrayals of the people whose stories are rarely heard by mainstream America.

"There are a million stories out there and none of them made good cocktail conversation," she said.  "People want you to take care of it but they don't want to hear about it." 

Her social work began in 1970, trying to find homes for minority, disabled and sibling groups of children.  She became an adoptive parent of three, in addition to having a biological son and many experiences fostering children.  In the 1970s she served on the Mercer County Mental Health Board, and in the '80s with the New Jersey Foster Parents Association.  She also worked finding housing for the homeless through the Section 8 Rental Assistance Program.  When she began writing poetry in the '90s as a way to record some of what she witnessed, these stories began to take narrative form.

Her work is oriented toward people and places.  The subject matter ranges from descriptions of lives afflicted by poverty and abuse to her personal reflection on being the wife of an Ivy League university faculty member in the 1960s.

"I don't write about the environment or the trees or the seashore," she observed.  She characterizes her writing style as narrative and straightforward.  "You don't have to wonder, 'What is she trying to say?' – I'm telling you," she said.

One poem, "Herman Sharp," is about her great-uncle, who died in 1918 in World War I. She found a story about him in the archives of his Illinois hometown, but most of what she knows of the young fallen soldier was from a single photograph of him posing with a cannon.

Other poems are inspired by her travels – "memory poems," she describes them.  "Hampstead" describes a place she spent time with her family when her children were young.  Her poem "English Summer" was written the night of the moon landing.

Other poems are humorous, like "Dumping the Emu," in her new collection, which recounts an unusual news story about law enforcement trying to capture the flightless bird in Mississippi.

More recently she has sought inspiration from art both as an observer and a creator.

Having taken a course at Bucks County College in the spring, in ekphrastic poetry – poetry inspired by art – she has been mixing her love of creating collages, with her poetry.  An upcoming Lawrenceville Main Street Artists Network exhibit will focus on artists and poets inspiring each other's work.  A selection of her collage work is visible on her website, along with excerpts from her poetry books.

Scott also edits the U.S. 1 Worksheet, the journal of the U.S. 1 Poets' Cooperative, a group she describes as vital and brimming with talent and ideas.  The US-1 Poets' Cooperative meets weekly in members' homes.  "We comment that the level of poetry that is being produced has gotten so much better," she said.  "(With) the group support and the dedication to writing and publishing…it's an exciting time."

Because online venues are more prevalent than print journals, due to the ease of publishing online, "You end up finding new strategies to get out there," she said.  That includes doing a lot of public readings, something she said she was surprised to find she enjoyed immensely.

Her first two books, "Down to the Quick" and "One Stands Guard, One Sleeps," were published in 2007 and 2009 by Plain View Press.  A third, "A Siege of Raptors," was published by Finishing Line Press as a chapbook. 

 "It's exciting that people want to publish these books," she said.  The most recent book, published by Main Street Rag and available in February 2011, was accepted two weeks after she submitted her work. This book includes many episodes from her life and includes both humorous and serious pieces.

"When I write I just write, I don't' think 'I'm going to write X number of poems about this and that.'  I find that I'm in a mindset where I'm writing things from a certain point of view. Unbeknownst to me they have a theme."

Although her life has included many detours from the path others would have chosen for her, Scott said in her poem "Stay on the Path, Mimi," that she is happy with the one she is on now.  "I don't want to be anywhere else / except on that path that has brought us both here."

For information on ordering Nancy Scott's books, visit http://www.nancyscott.net.