"Madeline Dyer’s poetry collection, Captive, is an invitation to the reader to consider the cost of physical illness on the mind and spirit. The poems are a conversation between the speaker, the outer world, and her inner tormentor: sometimes beetle, sometimes monster, sometimes friend, of her mind. Dyer’s speaker, who sees herself as one “among all the crying girls” speaks mantras in triplicate and escalating parallels, pausing over the heartbreak of good days, the desire to touch and be touched, and the agony of it all."

— Sherre Vernon, author of The Name is Perilous and Green Ink Wings.

“Brutally honest and brilliant, this collection takes the reader through the experience of living with a crumbling mind. From the first unexplainable visions to the fight within, and the constant struggle to be heard, Dyer’s poetry is a cry out to the world suffused with raw emotion. A captivating and eye-opening experience.”

— S.E. Anderson, author of the Starstruck Saga