This is why I write.
Thank you Ms. Chyrel J. Jackson, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.
Chyrel and I exchanged our books of poetry.
Her book, co-authored with her sister Lyris D. Wallace "Different Sides of the Same Coin" are truly 'Words in the key of life' and belong in everyone's poetry collection.
For all that is a drag with facebook, I am so happy that we've met.

Jane I had to stop my reading for a moment. I am blown away by the depth and breadth of your talent. I smile because art, great music, sports and an open mind bring us together. As a black woman sometimes you become trapped within your own pain. I am still smiling because your words draw me out of that 24/7 abyss. Thank you friend for reminding me not all white people are my enemy. Thank you for allowing me to step outside my everyday all encompassing pain of being black in a not so great America. You are more than a friend you are my sister. I can't wait to read more of your work. I will say some of that in my overall review. As you stated in your forward, music and poetry art in fact transports us to another time and space. You are masterfully skillful in accomplishing that in a time where an orange colored piece of excrement reminds us all what is not great about America. Racism never at any time was ever great. Thank you!!!
I was also thinking on the whole of your work. I have revisited your poems a second time. It occurred to me that as a reviewer I failed in stating the overall riding message which is its most important. Word against the Machine did what our Literary ancestors Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin begged White America with a moral conscience to do. Acknowledge Black pain and hold those immorally delinquent accountable. This is what your anthology of poems did. You called out male and female white power structures and said everything from socioeconomic gains made on the backs of subjugated black America is wrong. That must be acknowledged that must be repaid. As a black woman in America, I, like my ancestors want that debt repaid. To witness a subjugated rape taking place everyday against your own people fosters a simmering rage white America on the whole just isn't ready to morally acknowledge. I smiled because your truths hit a centuries old moral failing right in the face. Keep writing Jane. These truths can't have the same effect when written from an aggrieved oppressed and often ignored minority. Ralph Ellison said we are invisible and Word Against the Machine said no you aren't I as a white woman see you. You aren't invisible to me what is happening in Black America affects me too. I see you and I stand with you. That is what I failed to state and I needed to state it because that is what I got from your writing and it was riveting and moving and I have lived every word that you wrote about inside my 50 years of living Black America. Keep writing Sister these truths must be told.
I have read and am now going back checking out the audio...I loved the poems but the jazz music feel over them was an entirely different mood altogether. I'm a huge jazz fan so the whole vibe was quite a different experience. I'm sure that was your intention. It was timeless and so artistic. The whole feel was so Isaac Hayes/Marvin Gaye and blue lights in your mom's/dad's basement. It really was. Reading them was amazing the accompaniment of music was just stellar. It was so female version of Arthur Prysock. (I hope you know who that is.) This was so good. That is not a powerful enough adjective. It took me back to a different time and space. It was artistic in a magical sense. Great job Jane. I loved it.

Book Review Word Against the Machine
Chyrel J. Jackson   -   Author, Writer, Poet.
I spent my Sunday Afternoon doing what I absolutely love reading. I was reminded today you never can judge a person by what is most visible skin color. I was reading Word Against the Machine. An Anthology of poems and it transported me back to a different era, time and space. Jane “SpokenWord” Grenier penned this artistic masterpiece.
It had everything in it. I mean Everything. We throw terms around like “woke" as if these can only be used by a particular race or group of people. I’m guilty I have done it myself. Jane reminded me today we are only as blind as our conscience allows us to be. There were so many thought provoking poems that time won’t allow me to reference all in my review. I will cite the one’s that made me feel the most. All of them were beyond good. That adjective is too weak. This body of work was exceptional. I Write, Darkness of Knight, Winter Has Come to America, Righteousness, Bang Bang, Revolution, Bang your Dead, Reparations and Cerial Killer Moms left the greatest impact for Me personally.
This collection of Poems transported me back to Marvin Gaye records and blue Lights in a your mother’s Basement. It was in your face, Unapologetically soulful and if you closed your eyes you would Confuse the depth of it’s rage for a Black Lives Matter Mom or a person of color who happened to meet the brutality of a hateful, racist white police officer. Jane most assuredly is not black but her writing hit its Intended mark. Her writings stirred your Soul. Today I was reminded that great isn’t born to one specific ethnic group but rather compassion and empathy should ground all of us. Jane is my sister from another Mother. She’s witty, soulful and Bright. She wrote of black pain as if she Actually lived it. I guess in a way Jane has. Word Against the Machine was gritty, raw and very Real.
How can one work contain absolutely Everything? This compilation of Poems was both nostalgic and current all at the same time. Jane wrote of Black pain because she sees it. In this way the writing was not only present but also timeless as well.
This work needs to be added in every African American college level literary course. I not only recommend Word Against the Machine, this collection of poems should be discussed and studied in all classroom curriculums just as Langston Hughes and James Baldwin are.
I smiled reading this book today because it reminded me that soul is much more than a genre of music it is a feeling and experience that starts from the heart.
Five Stars just aren’t enough. Chyrel J. Jackson
Author, Writer, Poet.