"Zimmer in Grade School"

Zimmer in Grade School

by Paul Zimmer

In grade school I wondered

Why I had been born

To wrestle in the ashy puddles

With my square nose

Streaming mucus and blood,

My knuckles puffed from combat

And the old nun's ruler.

I feared everything: God,

Learning, and my schoolmates.

I could not count, spell, or read. 

My report card proclaimed

These scarlet failures. 

My parents wrung their loving hands.

My guardian angel wept constantly.

But I could never hide anything. 

If I peed my pants in class

The puddle was always quickly evident,

My worst mistakes were at

The blackboard for Jesus and all

The saints to see. 

        Even now,

When I hide behind elaborate mask,

It is always known that I am Zimmer,

The one who does the messy papers

And fractures all his crayons,

Who spits upon the radiators

And sits all day in shame

Outside the office of the principal.

It is very evident that the speaker of this poem is Paul Zimmer himself, by the fact that he calls himself by name and the title is "Zimmer in Grade School". While it is easy for me to tell who the speaker of the poem is, trying to tell who he is speaking to, however, has proven more difficult. I find that he could either be speaking to himself or to an audience of everyone. It doesn't seem to be addressed to anyone in particular. I know this because if it was to his parents for example, it would say "you" instead of "my parents", and if it was to his classmates it would be the same thing, as with the principal.