How A Marriage Ends

[wasellajam]

Hi, Rob, while I like the imagery this one sticks in a few places. Some notes:

Mid-argument,
she presents the paper
as if it were a sword --
"Sign".

Which I do.
I'm not a fan of mid-argument. The papers are drawn and both parties are willing to sign, why continue to argue? Though maybe some couples do.

I pour hot sake
into my cup and watch
the steam.
She shuts the shoji, opens
the bedside drawer
This puts me in their space.

where I placed
her Japanese moccasin.
So I was lost as to the meaning of this until I read your comment. So you could use Mamushi but then you lose the double meaning of moccasin, maybe if you capitalize Moccasin I might have wondered and looked it up, too late to know now.
But on to the meaning. So this is a murder, not an agreement. I'm confused with I/Her, the Narrator (let’s say He) places her own snake in the drawer, she usually keeps it elsewhere and hasn't noticed it missing? And if it's hers it may not be a danger to her, foiled again. It's really too much to ask of me to come up with something else of hers that can kill her, above my pay grade.

So as you can see, after multiple reads I'm still confused. Maybe it will come together for someone else.