Poem of the Day: "Little Mammoth" by Mark Doty

"Little Mammoth" by Mark Doty is the Songs of Eretz Poem of the Day for April 15, 2014.  It appeared in The American Poetry Review May/June 2011 issue.  A link to the poem may be found here:  https://www.aprweb.org/poem/little-mammoth.

Mark Doty (b. 1953) (pictured) is a Distinguished Writer at Rutgers.  He has published several collections of poetry.  In 2011, he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.  Reference to this and additional biographical information may be found here:  http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/91.

Oxymoron is a not often used poetic device, but Mr. Doty uses it effectively in "Little Mammoth," beginning, of course, with the title.  As the narrator of the poem, the baby mammoth is simultaneously alive--or at least able to narrate--and dead, indeed, extinct.