All About Eve

My sister Evelyn Pettersson Carra was a prolific writer of all things and wrote poetry as well - wonderful poetry. Here is a bit about her and some of her poems.

This entire post is taken from her memorial which was prepared by her daughter Katherine...

“There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go.” Author Unknown

Evelyn Anita Carra …
Evelyn was born 21st August 1942 to Albin (Alf) and Eva Pettersson at the Nkana Hospital, Kitwe Zambia. She attended Art School in Cape Town South Africa and worked as a secretary and bookkeeper throughout her working career.

An excerpt for the Bahamas newspapers 1965…

"After a Deep Breath – Down to 110 Ft Evelyn sets world record gains $1,000 prize
A twenty-three-year-old Freeport secretary from Kitwe, Zambia, this afternoon took a very deep breath, dived into the Atlantic and broke the world women’s free-diving record by reaching a depth of 110 feet. The Tribune, Saturday 18 December, 1965" – the was Evelyn’s first of two winning dives. Her next free-dive she reached 125 feet 4 inches.

1960’s and 1970’s

Evelyn traveled extensively throughout Europe and America and broke the Guinness Book of Records world underwater free diving women’s record in 1965 and 1966 in the Bahamas. She married and had two children Katherine and Robert. In 1979 she and her family fled Zambia to live in South Africa.

1980’s and 1990’s

The family migrated in 1983 to join extended family in Brisbane, Australia. Evelyn divorced and worked in numerous positions including at the Tangalooma Island Resort and for the Committee for Black Deaths in Custody.

2000’s

Evelyn welcomed her grandchildren Vickie, Jacob, Lucy and Joseph to the world and began writing her autobiography in 2005. She died on the 23rd of October 2007 after an eight month dance with lung cancer.

Evelyn was a sister to Ernest, Erika, Esther, Errol, Alfred, Charles and Ingrid, a mother to Katherine and Robert, Babba to Jacob, Lucy and Joseph and Babka to Victoria.

Poems by Eve:

Evelyn you’re forgiven,
We’ll accept you into heaven,
Not because you cried,
But because you tried,
To do what you thought was right,
Until the angel came last night.”
1968

I’m tired of debtors and creditors,
Of cheques and all that stuff,
After twenty years of doing it,
I’ve really had enough.
I’m tired of opening mail,
That’s not addressed to me,
So now you can see what I’m doing instead,
I am writing poetry.
1987

Seventy five percent of the time I feel ashamed to be human and the rest of time I feel ashamed to be white
1994

Realisation

I remember very well the day that I was born,
The sun was beating overhead,
The burning trees forlorn.
I remember even wishing so early, so soon,
That I’d been born in the cool of the night,
Instead of the heat of noon.

Why right from the start we do this – all,
We make it so we have to fall,
We don’t want this but only that,
If the road’s hilly and interesting,
We want it flat.

We’re never satisfied with life,
We bring ourselves both sorrow and strife,
From now I’ll try to thank God for my lot,
For what I deserve, I must have got.


Over the rainbow and under the sea,
Through mind and body I’ve tried to flee.
It doesn’t work, I know at last,
The dice are thrown, the die is cast.

Come join me all living things,
Let us anticipate pleasurably what life brings,
If we accept and give as much as we can,
We’ll surely compliment His wonderful plan.
1968

Now Eve’s in the Garden of Eden
Though Adam has long disappeared
But if you happen to see him
You can tell him it’s not as he feared
She hasn’t been drastically punished
She hasn’t been haunted by him
In fact she’s grown and she’s flourished
Tell him
He’d been her Only sin
1999

The sun shone through my doorway
Giving a friendly light
The tree stood outside my window
Was such a pretty sight
So I can truly say
Good morning! Today
1983

Kookaburra dear friend,
Would that you could lend
Me some of your laughter,
As you peer from the rafter.
Would that you could borrow
Some of my sorrow,
And turn it around
Into a laughing tomorrow
1997

A speech at Eve's funeral by her dear friend Elaine:

How does one say goodbye to a dear and loyal friend. I simply cannot and all I can say is that she has gone away for a while. We shall meet again in the foreseeable future and Eve will have so many stories to tell me about her wonderful journey and all the amazing people she has met along the way.

My friend Eve was unique, bold, courageous, truthful to the extreme even if it upset people, principled, witty and oh so wise. She was a story teller to the end and I am going to miss those amazing stories so much. I would always marvel at that amazing memory and clever mind that never forgot any detail even after numerous glasses of her beloved wine. We did not spend as much times together as I would have liked during the past few years, but she was a constant in my life - I always thought she would be invincible.
Some weeks back I asked her how would I know that her spirit was around and she looked at me whimsically and said "one day you will be sitting somewhere and a puff of smoke will gently pass you by".

She had so many talents and as I said to Kitty the other day, had she been an avaricious or ambitious person she could have conquered the world. Instead she chose to live her life privately close to her children and grandchildren. There are so many wonderful things that she has written and I hope one day the world will get the opportunity to get a glimpse of that brilliant and insightful mind.

Thank you for your wonderful friendship and thank you for bequeathing me "your lady in green".. She is beautiful and I will always remember you every time I look at her - she holds pride of place in my heart and my home. You too were a lady.

Travel well my friend and we shall meet again - I hope you do not mind if I wait a little while!!!!!!.

your special friend
Elaine

And her friend Cameron said....
When Eve said to Adam
Start calling me madam
The world became far more excitingFor whether her allureWas pure or impure
She was always up for the fighting

And thus she did become ...
a dame worthy of knighting
Examples!? you may ask was she up to the task?
I say YES!You cermougeonous wretch
On a bus or a train
Now let me explain
Could be her soul serving ARENA
Loud mobile phone moaners
were set in her sites
I wish I could have SEEN HER

Admonishment could come
With a most menacing tongue
but it was that STARE
Which would have laid the BARE

So try as you may
you could not sway
Her disdain for life's clitter clatter
Revheads and lawn mowers
Jack hammers and leaf blowers
Her pursuit of peace really DID MATTER
But peace could be found
close to the ground
in the garden of Eve-of-Bardon

There lay a rambling
Trail of Charm
The tiniest creatures
Safe from harm
living in fragments of Art
arranged by her heart
Merging with verdant green

Plants carefully watered
Lest they be slaughtered
by drought or the wicked searing sun
Alive and perky
They withstood many a scrub turkey
And brought Joy to Everyone

And lets not forget
Her enchanting past
from Africa to the Caribbean
Let it fly high
On the mastof monkeys and mayhem
She adored the Queen's diadem

Regality and survival walked together to the last
Farewell for now
Dearest of Eves
No doubt you are diving
Deeper into the water
of
your
Dreams