5Q4 > A Performance Poet

A surprise part of the youth program at South Queensland camp in September was the performance poetry of Jermaine Wong. His rhymes and message captivated and challenged his audiences. Edge’s Nathan Brown caught up with Jermaine enjoying the Queensland sunshine.

1 Tell us about the church you come from. > I’m from a little town called Brixton, South London. Our church is called Kennington Community Fellowship. It’s a fairly new church, planted in 1999. It’s a community-based, ministry-based church, working in three different communities, Brixton, Oakwell and Kennington. I’m assistant head deacon. But we aren’t like regular deacons who just collect the offering and stuff like that: I preach, I teach Sabbath school. We are really hands-on in our church. At 24, I’m one of the oldest deacons.

2 And you’ve got a day job? > Yes, I work in mental health rehab. I’m a support worker for people who have a drug addiction and schizophrenia, mostly from crack cocaine and marijuana use. Funnily enough, I get more trouble from the staff than I get from the clients. I thought it would be the other way around, but maybe because I was coming from a Christian background and we have the philosophy of treating everybody as equal, I think it helps our relationship with clients.

3 And Where did your poetry start? > I used to be a rapper before I became saved. I was in a group called Supersonics and we were trying to make it big. But I guess because I grew up in a church I always had the Christian principles and when life deals you a hard hand you always go back to this source. I tried to incorporate Christian lyrics in the raps I was doing but it just wouldn’t fit. When I got converted I just decided to scrap secularism and go full-blown and I asked the Lord to use my talents for Him and here I am. Everything I wanted to do as a secular rapper, I’ve now done as a Christian poet.

4 Where does the inspiration come from for poetry? > It comes from my own personal trials and tribulations, my own personal shortcomings. Usually I write about myself first and where I fall short of the glory of God. Usually people can relate, if they are honest with themselves. As Christians we all go through the same things. I usually talk about stuff that people don’t really want to go into. That’s the stuff we need to talk about if we want to grow. It seems to work. And at the same time I get to confess without people judging—instead of judging, they actually relate.

5 What reactions have you had to your poetry here in Australia? > It’s been amazing. I’ve had people of all backgrounds and ages come up to me. I had a man come up to me—I think he was in his early 50s—and he said the Holy Spirit used me to break down barriers because when I did the poetry he heard what I was saying and even though he doesn’t usually like rap it had a great impact on him. The reaction has been really, really good! My pastor [who was guest youth speaker at the camp] phoned me the day before he left for Australia and said God told him I should come too. I wasn’t going to argue with that—and the Holy Spirit has been working through us both during camp.

Hear a soundbyte of
Jermaine’s performance poetry