Restoration Day

"Restoration" is a word with political, theological, and therapeutic resonance. The long poem RESTORATION DAY mingles these and other meanings with memories of Rhode Island - the "Ocean State". The poem plays multiple changes on the coincidence that the British holiday, "Restoration Day", and R.I. Statehood Day, are one and the same : May 29th. As it happens, King Charles II -whose birthday the British holiday celebrates - granted the original R.I. colonial charter to Roger Williams and his friends.