The First Deluge, and: Book of Revelations

Abstract

The First Deluge, and: Book of Revelations Alison Powell (bio) The First Deluge On the question of space in Noah's Ark according to Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Studythe vast majority of speciesare capable of surviving in waterand would not be brought aboard for instance jellyfish and hydroids 5,000 species of sponges the insect species many of the worms as well Secondthe word species is not equivalentto the created kinds in Genesisof which there were as few as 2,000 animals alsothe ark could easily accommodate 16,000padding this number for error still you can see it is a matter of language before it is a matter of mathematics Very large animalssuch as the dinosaur or the elephantcould be represented by young ones [End Page 132] Assuming the average animalto be about the size of a sheepand using a railroad car for comparison we note that the average double-deckstock car can accommodate 240 sheep Three trains hauling 69 cars eachwould have ample spaceto carry the 50,000 animalsfilling only 37% of the ark This would leave an additional361 cars or 5 trains of 72 cars eachto carry all of the food and baggageplus Noah's family of eight people The Ark had plenty of space The bigger problem would have beenthe construction but the Bible indicatesthat Noah did this under Divine guidance and there is no reason to believehe did not hire additional workmen The door to the ark was closed God destroyed the world As you can see it is a matter of before it is a matter of Now will you answer what architecture [End Page 133] Book of Revelations In the Book of Revelationsthere is great equality of number: twelve thousand of this tribe twelve thousand of that tribe if one third of trees burnedone third of the ocean became blood if one third of the sea creaturesdied and floated to shorethen one third of the ships sank (equality but for the grassthe blades are comprehensively burned) This story of destruction is a story of salvationand so it is also like a door You may make your own doormany have before you from say bird bone and gorilla palm tusk and hot hinges of earth core and more tusk or one million paintings from history that show the moon and descending fog the million canvases burned the fog now in pieces now one million gray moths [End Page 134] To build such a door is an act of optimismthat we may evict helplessness from our soul and spend our nights dreaming we are the wings of an unknown creature landing on some unpopulated indestructible island [End Page 135] Alison Powell Alison Powell is author of On the Desire to Levitate, which won the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize (Ohio UP). Her work has appeared on PBS NewsHour and in journals such as Boston Review, Black Warrior Review, Crazyhorse, AGNI, Antioch Review, Guernica, and others. She is currently an assistant professor of poetry at Oakland University. Copyright © 2016 University of Nebraska Press