Peter Newton — Touchstone Award for Individual Poems — Winner 2025

Peter Newton is the recipient of a Touchstone Award for Individual Poems for 2025, for the poem:

      big
  enough
prayer rug

— Peter Newton, Modern Haiku, Volume 56.3, Autumn 2025.

Commentary from the Panel:

A poem of just four words. Deceptively simple, it raises a complex question: how “big” is “big enough”?

Prayer rugs are sized to allow a person to kneel and to perform prostrations. Their purpose in Islam and in Orthodox Christianity is to provide a clean surface, regardless of the kind of environment a person finds themselves in at the time of prayer. But spreading a small rug on the ground or the floor provides more than protection from dust or soil. It creates a symbolic refuge—sacred ground in a world that does not often value the sacred. Whether in a corner of an airport or in a cubicle at a tech company, a practicing Muslim will pray five times a day. By invoking the image of a prayer rug, the poem witnesses those acts.

Intricately woven with patterns and materials characteristic of the culture of its origin, a prayer rug serves as a memory of home for those finding themselves in a foreign land. For an immigrant, a prayer rug might be a strong emotional and spiritual link to the place their people came from. A cherished possession, a rug may have been passed along in a family over many years, from father to son, mother to daughter. Thus, the prayers of generations are interwoven and contained in the very fabric of the tapestry. Kneeling onto the silk or wool that was touched countless times by their ancestors serves as a tangible reminder and a point of focus.

“Big enough” might also convey the challenge of sustaining belief during periods of spiritual drought. When faith struggles with doubt, the simple routine of kneeling on a prayer rug may carry a believer through those difficult times. Indeed, the “enough” could designate the rug as a small raft, just large enough to carry someone through life’s turbulent waters.

The shape of the poem is significant. During prayer, Muslims kneel at the base of the rug and perform prostrations towards the direction of Mecca. Does the shape of the poem invoke a prayer mat from the perspective of a prostrate person? Or the shape of one or more people praying, as seen from above? With the last line being the longest, do we see the prayer rug as supporting the weight of the poem itself?

Compact even by haiku standards, this poem weaves together strands of hope and faith that go to the heart of what it means to be human.

Touchstone winners receive a crystal award to commemorate their selection. See the complete list of winners of both Individual Poem Awards and Distinguished Books Awards in the Touchstone Archives.

THF strives to maintain a safe and friendly environment for our readers and site participants. Participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior of all parties. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason, at any time. 

If you see something you feel may violate our Code of Conduct, please report it to the appropriate moderator or the President here.