Critical Commentary of Elser’s work
About the chapbook, We Leave the Safety of the Sea: "Art Elser powerfully crafts the haunting price of freedom. For military and civilians involved in war, it does not end with a truce or peace treaty. May we all remember the burden of that truth.” Patricia Frolander, Wyoming Poet Laureate, 2011-2013.
"A collection of fierce, uncompromising poems about the tragic war in Vietnam, written by a man who took part in it as a pilot dropping bombs. Elser describes himself as a "sad man with dark memories" of the numerous lives lost in that combat, especially the many lives he took.” The citation for the Colorado Authors’ League 2014 poetry award.
