At the bedside, a nurse tries to feed an old woman, pressing a blue spoon on her. The speaker looks on as the grandmother refuses, clamping her mouth shut. The phrase “stitched up her mouth / with what will / she had” turns that refusal into something deliberate and powerful: what seals her lips is not weakness but will. She has decided that if she cannot control much else, she will at least control the terms of her ending—her time, her place, her way. The speaker seems caught between sadness and respect, watching someone lose bodily strength yet exercise a final, quiet authority. The mood is hushed and tense, with the blue spoon and nurse’s persistence giving the scene a clinical chill, while the old woman’s resistance gives it dignity. “Fifteen” may hint that the speaker is young, witnessing this as an early, sobering lesson about autonomy, aging, and the ways people hold onto themselves.
Fifteen — Summary
I watched the nurse with her blue spoon badgering our nana.
The old woman stitched up her mouth with what will she had — she would choose her time, her place, her way.