we never say quiet: a poetry collection

We Never Say Quiet: A Poetry Collection is the MFA thesis collection for Matthew Dettmer. Largely culled from his experience as an emergency medicine and critical care physician working during the COVID pandemic, the collection uses prose poetry and erasure to capture the chaos encountered in a hospital by its workers and patients. As reflected in the title, the absence of silence is a recurring theme throughout and the many noises in a medical setting in crisis, from constant alarms to questions from patients to the banter from employees.