Wyn Cooper (born 1957) is an American poet. He is best known for his 1987 poem "Fun", which was adapted by

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three li ...

and

Bill Bottrell William A. Bottrell (born October 27, 1952) is an American record producer and songwriter. He has collaborated with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Electric Light Orchestra and Sheryl Crow. Biography Between 1967 and 1970, Bottrell attended Cresc ...

into the lyrics of Crow's 1994 breakthrough single " All I Wanna Do".

Early life

Wyn Cooper was born 2 January 1957, in Detroit, Michigan, to Maree Edith Cooper, a teacher's aide, and William Wendell Cooper, a tool-and-die machinist. Cooper was raised in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

(B.A., 1979),

Hollins College Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States ...

(M.A., 1981), and later, the creative writing doctoral program at

Career

He has taught at the

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

Marlboro College Marlboro College was a private college in Marlboro, Vermont. Founded in 1946, it remained intentionally small, operating as a self-governing community with students following self-designed degree plans culminating in a thesis. In 1998 the colle ...

, and at

The Frost Place The Frost Place is a museum and nonprofit educational center for poetry located at Robert Frost's former home on Ridge Road in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. ...

Festival of Poetry. Cooper has served as editor of ''

Quarterly West ''Quarterly West'' is an American literary magazine based at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Stories that have appeared in ''Quarterly West'' have been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, The Best American Short Stories and the O. H ...

'' and recently worked for the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

run by the

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Rut ...

. He currently works as a freelance editor of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and memoir.

Books

His novel Way Out West was released in 2022. His earlier books are ''Mars Poetica'' (White Pine Press, 2018), ''Chaos is the New Calm'' (BOA Editions, 2010), ''Postcards from the Interior'' (BOA Editions, 2005), ''The Way Back'' (White Pine Press, 2000), and ''The Country of Here Below'' (Ahsahta Press, 1987).

Poems

Cooper's poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in ''

Slate Magazine ''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former '' New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 20 ...

'', ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

'', ''Orion'', '' Gander Press Review'', '' Blackbird'', ''

AGNI Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...

'', ''Crazyhorse,'' and ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Boston. ...

'' and are included in 25 anthologies of contemporary poetry.

Songs

One of his poems, ''Fun'', was used for the lyrics of the

song, " All I Wanna Do".

"But in January 1993,
Bill Bottrell William A. Bottrell (born October 27, 1952) is an American record producer and songwriter. He has collaborated with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Electric Light Orchestra and Sheryl Crow. Biography Between 1967 and 1970, Bottrell attended Cresc ...
and Kevin Gilbert,
Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three li ...
's producer and keyboard player, took a break from recording her first CD, Tuesday Night Music Club, for want of better lyrics to a tune they already had in mind. They went around the corner to Cliff's Books in Pasadena, where they found a used copy of my book." — Wyn Cooper

Crow's producer

discovered Cooper's poetry book ''The Country of Here Below'' in Cliff's Books, a

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

used bookstore. Bottrell adapted ''Fun'' into the lyrics for her song when Crow could not come up with usable lyrics, earning Cooper considerable royalties, and helping to publicise his book, originally published in a run of only 500 copies in 1987, into multiple reprints. In 2002, Cooper's lyrics for a fictional band, appeared in, ex-college friend,

Madison Smartt Bell Madison Smartt Bell (born August 1, 1957, in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American novelist. While established as a writer by several early novels, he is especially known for his trilogy of novels about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolut ...

's novel, ''Anything Goes''. In 2003, the songs were put to music by Bell, recorded and produced by bassist Don Dixon, with

Mitch Easter Mitchell Blake Easter (born November 15, 1954) is a musician, songwriter, and record producer. Frequently associated with the jangle pop style of guitar music, he is known as producer of R.E.M.'s early albums from 1981 through 1984, and as frontm ...

, and percussionist Jim Brock and released as ''Madison Smartt Bell and Wyn Cooper'': ''40 Words for Fear''. The second CD, with percussionist Jim Brock and bassist/producer Don Dixon, from ''Bell & Cooper'': ''Postcards Out of the Blue'', was based in part on Cooper's book ''Postcards from the Interior'', a suggestion by Dixon. Their songs have been used on five television shows. Cooper has also written and recorded songs with

David Broza David Simon Berwick Broza ( he, דויד ברוזה; born September 4, 1955) is an Israeli singer-songwriter. His music mixes modern pop with Spanish music. Biography David Broza was born in Haifa, Israel. His father was an Israeli–British bus ...

David Baerwald David Francis Baerwald (born July 11, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and musician. Career Baerwald first came to prominence in 1986 as one half of the duo David & David, with David Ricketts. David and David's sole album, ' ...

, and Jody Redhage.

Works

*''The Country of Here Below'' (

Ahsahta Press Anthony Thomas Trusky (14 March 1944 – 28 November 2009) was an American professor, writer, editor, film historian, and book artist. He was known for promoting poetry of the American West, recovering the films of Nell Shipman, and rediscoverin ...

, 1987) *''The Way Back'' (

White Pine Press White Pine Press is an American, nonprofit, literary press located in Buffalo, New York, publishing poetry, fiction, essays, and world literature in translation. The press was founded by poet, translator, editor and publisher Dennis Maloney in 1 ...

, 2000) *''Postcards from the Interior'' ( BOA Editions, Ltd., 2005) *''Chaos is the New Calm'' (BOA Editions, 2010) *''Mars Poetica'' (White Pine Press, 2018)

Personal life

Cooper resides in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

Notes

External links

official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Wyn Living people People from Windham County, Vermont Poets from Michigan American male poets American poets 1957 births University of Utah alumni