Poetry. After a first novel of insidious allure, Karl Roeseler has composed in LAST DECADE a brief series of poems that are no less seductive. Each is tantalizingly scattered across the page in resonant facets that seem to emerge from an invisible and intensely present ground, into which the reader is drawn with the delight of a cat exploring the wonders of darkness. This is an absorbing and scintillating book-- Harry Mathews. Roeseler's writing is always intricate, always deeply thoughtful, and always deeply human-- Mac Wellman.