While grief, death and loss loom like a monster hiding in the shadows of life, wild roses, irrigated by the aches of living, appear bringing with them hope, healing, forgiveness and a reawakening. These themes are examined in Phase of a Monster and Wild Roses – a collection of poems by Oluremi Faye-Ademola. Taking the reader on a journey through both obscurity and light, the poetry contained in this book explores folklore, elegies, allegories, historical narratives and a few unconventional forms of prose narratives. The voices herein express different thoughts and feelings, their moods dependent on the situations they find themselves and the themes explored in the poems. While some of the writing depict the terror, anxiety and suffering caused by monstrous losses, family feuds and the vanity of human desires, others focus on the turning points and the positive elements of life as we know it.