SARANAC LAKE – April is National Poetry Month, and one of the special events taking place in Saranac Lake this month will be a presentation by Lee Gaillard focusing on poems inspired by war experiences.

This event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 11 in the Cantwell Room of the Saranac Lake Free Library.

Gaillard will look at poems that emerged from four different wars, to see how both British and American poets reacted to combat witnessed in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq. These poems were selected from those used by Gaillard in workshops he did last year with vets suffering from PTSD, at the Merkel Center in Saranac Lake.

For several years during his career as a teacher of European History and English and American Literature, Gaillard also offered a course on war literature.

He and his wife Ann moved to Saranac Lake from Philadelphia eight years ago when Ann became Rector of St. Luke’s Church.

Gaillard’s presentation will be part of the regular monthly meeting of the Poetry Group. After the presentation, members of the Poetry Group will read poems that they have written or selected, and the public is also invited to share poems, time permitting.

Poems that relate to the theme of war are especially encouraged.