"Venus and the Ark"

I believe Anne Saxton calls her poem, “Venus and the Ark”, a spoof because she is creating a humorous rendition of Noah and the Ark, as noted by previous students.  The indication of the humorous nature in the poem, in my opinion, starts at the very beginning when Saxton lists the many creatures taken aboard the missile.   It is mentioned in the Bible that Noah brought along two of every kind of animal and creature on the Ark.  When I picture this scene, I imagine animals like tigers, elephants, goats, cows, etc.  However, Saxton tells only of the insects, bars of food, rats, and pouches of dirt brought on board the missile.  This doesn’t seem like much of an Ark in my opinion.  Much to what Colin said, her poem can also be seen as a spoof in that man, unlike God, brought about the destruction of the Earth.  In the Bible, God brought about the Flood that destroyed mankind.  This again harkens back to the controversy between religion and creationism discussed by Group C.