Wyn Cooper (born January 2, 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 singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

and

Bill Bottrell William Allen Bottrell (born October 27, 1952) is an American record producer and songwriter. He is perhaps best known for his production and uncredited guest appearance on Michael Jackson's 1991 single "Black or White", which peaked the ''Bill ...

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

Early life

Cooper was born 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 peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

(B.A., 1979), Hollins College (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, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

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 Festival of Poetry. Cooper has served as editor of '' Quarterly West'' and recently worked for the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, a

think tank A think tank, or public 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-governme ...

run by the

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is a United States 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 philanthrop ...

. 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 ''The New Republic, New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as ...

'', ''

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

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

AGNI Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...

'', ''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 Bost ...

'' 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 Allen Bottrell (born October 27, 1952) is an American record producer and songwriter. He is perhaps best known for his production and uncredited guest appearance on Michael Jackson's 1991 single "Black or White", which peaked the ''Bill ...
and Kevin Gilbert,
Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...
'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, United States, 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 commerci ...

, 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, 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 Revolutio ...

'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 (; 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 businessman of German-Dutch ...

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, 1987) *''The Way Back'' ( White Pine Press, 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 is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

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