Group C: Venus and The Ark

I agree that the author intended for the human race to die out. She clarified that both of the PHD's were male and highlighted that they could not reproduce.
But I just wanted to say that they didn't necessarily plan on starting their own little utopia. Plus they didn't choose Venus over Earth. There really wasn't an Earth to go back to.
In fact, my impression from the poem was that the two scientists didn't even intend on creating a utopia free of human imperfections. The reason that they let all of the animals out of their cages is because the scientists no longer had any reason to keep going with their tests (the third stanza is where this takes place). She writes that they become "listless" after about seven months, which literally means apathetic or indifferent. Another great set of lines is,

"Old and withered, two Ph.D.’s

from Earth hobbled slowly back

to their empty balloon, crying alone

for sense, for the troubling lack

of something they ought to do."
This really stood out to me on my second read through. If the entire human race except for you and another person of the same gender as you, what would you do with your time? There's really no point to anything they do. They realize that and then just give up.