On hand at the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind Dunedin office to witness her pleasure as she read aloud Giraffe, by Danielle Hope, and To All Backward Bulbs: An Outburst, by Olive Dehn, was the editor of the poetry cards, Dunedin poet Ruth Arnison.
For the last three years, Mrs Arnison has been producing the free take-home, three-fold A4 cards containing a varied selection of poems for distribution in doctor's surgeries, rest homes, hospices and some prisons.
While the project, which has grown from 500 to 2700 copies each season, began in Dunedin, this summer numbers will increase further as it extends to Nelson-Marlborough.
Mrs Arnison said the idea for the braille cards came one night when she could not sleep and wondered what it would be like if you were blind and could not read poetry.
She got in touch with the Foundation of the Blind which was keen to support the project by producing the cards and the Lion Foundation agreed to fund it to the tune of $1100.
Foundation braille awareness consultant Lisette Wesseling said it would be great if a sponsor could be found to make the project a permanent part of the PitWR scheme.
The 50 books, some in full braille and some in the more advanced contracted braille, would be available in foundation offices in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch and Invercargill.
Readers of the braille version will also be encouraged to keep the cards.
While they are bulkier than the printed edition, running to some 13 A4 pages, Ms Waby said they were still small enough to slip into a handbag, something not possible with many braille books.
Ms Waby, who also teaches braille, started reading it at 5.
The beauty of braille was that she could lie in bed at night and read under the covers without getting cold hands and no tell-tale light to alert her mother.
Mrs Wesseling said when learning braille it was important to have access to short pieces of writing which could be rewarding "rather than a great big novel which could take years to get through".
Eventually it would be good to have the braille version of the cards available in medical waiting rooms too, but the concern was that it would be difficult to make sure they were used and not thrown out.
However, if a surgery really wanted some they should contact the foundation, she said.
Mrs Arnison, clearly delighted by the experience of seeing and hearing Ms Waby read from the 11-poem card, was hopeful sponsorship could be found for the braille version long-term.
Finding sponsors generally for the project, which is a registered charity, is an ongoing battle for Mrs Arnison and limits the coverage she can offer.
She would like to have been able to provide the cards throughout the Christchurch area, but was unable to afford this yet.
• Mrs Arnison can be contacted at waitingroompoems@gmail.com The New Zealand project is based on a similar United Kingdom charity which began in 1998.
