"Venus and the Ark"

This poem is seen as a spoof because throughout the poem Sexton points out how even though the anonymous country strived to expand their domain and further their knowledge, no one seemed to care, and those that did were too angry and jealous to see that destroying the Earth was not the best idea. Although this end to the world could not have been foreseen, the two men had no way of reproducing, or creating a life for themselves. In the end, one of them says “This is the end. This is the last of a man like me,” just in time to see the fish begin to crawl, disproving his belief that his creation was unique and not replicable.