" Even if there is no specific audience for "Old World," the poem may have added depth and meaning to those who have left the Old World for the New. Simic is not Sicilian, and yet his imagery would especially appeal to those from Mediterranean countries. The Romans were in Serbia, though, so there is a thematic link between the forgotten empires of Italy and Simic's own Serbian lands.

In "County Fair," the audience is even more elusive than it is in "Old World." The speaker does use the first person plural, bringing the audience actively into the action of the poem. In this sense, "County Fair" speaks to the audience on an intimate personal level. The narrator includes the reader in the action, as the poet is asking the reader to determine what "County Fair" means to the individual. There are no absolute meanings embedded in the poem. Instead, the poem can be taken differently to have an emotional and psychological impact on each person...

For example, some readers will have never gone to a county fair where there are "freak" shows like that of a six-legged dog or a bearded lady. Others will have looked forward to county fairs every year in their childhood, and the poem will speak to them differently and on a more visceral level of memory.
The "us" is an audience of people watching the spectacle that is the carnival in its entirety. The spectacle is not just the dog, because the drunk man and woman are part of the show too. They are the catalysts, who cause the dog to leave his corner. The dog could have remained invisible, notes the narrator. As it is, the keeper of the dog throws something so that the dog will chase it. The dog is being used as a source of entertainment, which appears cruel. The narrator speaks directly to the audience to ask what the individual reader thinks about using people who are "different" for entertainment purposes.