She peels back the mattress
to reveal a knife:
'In case my boyfriend
gets too rough...'

The bed, for me,
is out of bounds.
Instead of sex,
she offers me a song,

disarms me with Sinatra
as we sprawl
on fusty tatami,
so tactfully apart,

discuss the ructions
of the room above,
reset the player's dagger
in the groove...