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we went to GUM
to look at the shortages on display
and when there
bought some essential items
some socialist realist soap
..to wash off the capitalist dust
some workers raw wax
..to make the post Soviet candles
and finally half a loaf
we counted out our dollar-kopeks
and travelled back to the apartment-prison in comfort
smug with the decadence of our purchases
yet confident that the bread would last to thursday