“The Ragdolls is a spoken word triad of queer girl witchcraft. After meeting at Toronto’s BAM! Youth Slam, the collective formed as a response to feminine competition in the arts. Cassandra Myers, existing in all caps, uses performance as an avenue to recognize injustice and reclaim history. Twoey Gray, a storyteller by nature, adapts intricate written word to the stage to challenge listeners. Londzo Drury brings her distinct musicality to the group, infusing poetry with guitar and piano to perfume an evocative mist over the audience. Together as the Ragdolls, the group aims to unearth, agitate, and heal.”
Q. Who came up with the name The Ragdolls for the group, and why?
CASS: We were trying to find a word or phrase that could manifest a strong visual image of the three of us together. One that captured our friendship, our femininity, and our sense of wonder as new artists. I was going back and forth in a Facebook message, spitting out names, that either only one of us or two of us would approve of, or all three of us would hate. When I said, The Ragdolls, it was the first one we all seemed to agree on. It’s funny, because I was the only one remotely hesitant about the name, but it stuck. Now, The Ragdoll Collective is a name that conjures an evocative image of three hand-stitched dolls slouching on an old quilt, leaning on each other and sharing secrets. We wear the name around each of our necks every time we perform. When we are together in one space, people we know address us as The Dolls. When we are having sleep-overs, we have them in The Dollhouse. The name, The Ragdolls, is beyond branding, it is a big part of our identities individually and collectively.
Q. How does performing as a group differ from performing solo?
CASS: Performing solo vs performing as a group is like white rice vs. stir fry. Individually, a staple; together, a meal. We’re able to experiment with poems we all write together, or push each other to explore ideas we haven’t considered. Adding voices adds depth. From a performance side, we are able to incorporate music, which adds a whole other realm of possibilities to our art. Zo [Londzo] is a beautiful guitarist, and Twoey and I usually do harmonies or background vocals. Our biggest influences are each other, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Q. In what ways do your writing styles differ, and how are you able to negotiate these differences when you perform as a group?
LONDZO: [After] years of working together, we have slowly [started] to realize just how much our writing styles differ. Now that we have grown into ourselves a bit more, we have inevitably vered in three outwardly branching directions. I find that I work with a lot of dark imagery and, as a musician, my style is extremely rhythmic. Cass is constantly extending her metaphors and punchlines to intertwine together in complex concepts. Twoey’s writing always tends to punch in places you don’t expect, and she has recently discovered a budding interest in choreography and theatrics. When we perform as a group, we have to compromise all the time to ensure that we are all very authentic to ourselves while still creating a cohesive product! Sometimes this means we have to put pieces on the backburner for months until every one of us is comfortable and proud of it. We mainly just find concepts that we all are enthusiastic about exploring. When we do so, our three voices all find a way to harmonize without much extra effort.
The Ragdolls have since launched their debut book “Hand Stitching for the Thick-Skinned,” which is now avaliable for order here.
Q. Describe your book “Hand Stitching for the Thick-Skinned” in 6 words or less?
LONDZO: “Tough stories for tougher kids.”
TWOEY: “The book I wish I had.”
CASS: “Please don’t show my mom.”
Q. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of your book are the illustrations. Tell us about what the process looked liked in terms of selecting pieces to use for you book.
TWOEY: A nice thing about having a lot of artist friends is that they’re often willing to offer their talents towards our projects. Many of the illustrators are people we have personal relationships with, others were recommended by friends of friends or met through places like BUNZ Trading Zone. We looked through each illustrator’s work and assigned them a poem based on their style. Beyond that, they had full artistic license of their interpretation. A lot of pleasant surprises in the results!
Q. What’s one piece of advice would you offer to other writers who are interested in slam poetry but may not know how to get started?
TWOEY: We all met through BAM! Youth Slam, a fantastic monthly slam that runs in the Annex. The best way to get involved in the scene is to come out to events and watch! There’s Toronto Poetry Slam on Queen West, RISE in Scarborough, Speakerbox in the York Region, Hot Damn It’s a Queer Slam in Kensington, and more! Cass and I are the presidents of the Poetic Exchange club that holds monthly slams at Ryerson. We send a team to the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational every year and mentor students in writing in preparation for that. Being immersed in a writing community has been so impactful for each of us.
Q. Where can our readers catch you performing next?
LONDZO: There are a few places you can catch us! First of all, we’ll be preforming at the Kensington Pedestrian Sundays on September 25th with Toronto Poetry Slam, and we’ll also be holding down a table at the Toronto Queer Zine Fair all day on Saturday October 15th!
For all the lastest news on The Ragdolls, make sure you check out their website, like them on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter.