‘This book is poised between three historical moments: the late-nineteenth-century moment, when the coal mining industry is central to the sustainability of the community, the current moment, shaped by profound concerns about the climate emergency, and the Thatcherite moment in which, in South Wales in particular, communities were wrecked by the policy of pit closures. By occupying all three historical consciousnesses, Williamson’s poetry is able to negotiate the respective contemporary blindnesses and dogmas, and so to arrive at a way of thinking that weighs the implications of historical change. Carboniferous is consistently accomplished, and as it develops becomes compelling.’

—David Herd, author of Walk Song

Caroline Williamson is a poet and editor living in Melbourne, Australia. She was born in London and spent school holidays with her grandparents in Merthyr Tydfil as a child. Her collection Time Machines was published by Vagabond Press in 2023.