In this collection of poems, Hannah Gamble plucks the girl from both the men and the unnecessary fluff to show the gut-wrenching reality of being a woman around men. In clipped language, she exposes the raw truth of being briefly trapped inside of a bar doorway and pretending to be okay with that.
This collection doesn't sugarcoat. Instead, it cakes the reader in the dirt of men's hands-hands that may cup a woman's chin in deception or force a woman's hips to theirs. With Gamble's explicitly honest language, the audience (all the while trying to shake the filth) will be unable to stop reading, finding at the core of The Traditional Feel of the Ballroom a woman's unshakable determination when she's had enough.