Fun Poem by Wyn Cooper

Fun



'All I want is to have a little
fun
Before I die,' says the man
next to me
Out of nowhere, apropos of
nothing. He says
His name's William but I'm
sure he's Bill
Or Billy, Mac or Buddy; he's
plain ugly to me,
And I wonder if he's ever had
fun in his life.

We are drinking beer at noon
on Tuesday,
In a bar that faces a giant car
wash.
The good people of the world
are washing their cars
On their lunch hours, hosing
and scrubbing
As best they can in skirts and
suits.
They drive their shiny Datsuns
and Buicks
Back to the phone company,
the record store,
The genetic engineering lab,
but not a single one
Appears to be having fun like
Billy and me.

I like a good beer buzz early
in the day,
And Billy likes to peel the
labels
From his bottles of Bud and
shred them on the bar.
Then he lights every match in
an oversized pack,
Letting each one burn down to
his thick fingers
Before blowing and cursing
them out.

A happy couple enters the bar,
dangerously close
To one another, like this is a
motel,
But they clean up their act
when we give them
A look. One quick beer and
they're out,
Down the road and in the next
state
For all I care, smiling like
idiots.
We cover sports and politics
and once,
When Billy burns his thumb
and lets out a yelp,
The bartender looks up from
his want-ads.

Otherwise the bar is ours, and
the day and the night
And the car wash too, the
matches and Buds
And the clean and dirty cars,
the sun and the moon
And every motel on this
highway. It's ours you hear?
And we've got plans, so relax
and let us in -
All we want is to have a little
fun.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Sal Paradise 04 May 2022

I listened to an interview of Wyn Cooper. He seemed fairly pleased with what she did with his poem. I love this song, Sheryl Crow gave these words a whole new life, and I can imagine the bar and the carwash, every bit of it.

4 1 Reply
Copyrightt Infringemnet 30 January 2021

how god awful is that you steal a man's words and put them in a song, exactly as the originally appeared, and not get a songwriting credit? 'adapted from'? bullshit.

5 14 Reply
Yvonne 14 December 2021

Gosh youre night the brightest bulb in the chandelier, are you?

4 1
Arrested Offender 08 March 2021

The song isnt very good i must say

0 8
Blake 26 February 2021

She actually called him and got his permission, and he got royalties from the song...

11 0
Sheryl 14 January 2021

Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard...

2 0 Reply
sammy 12 May 2018

Great poems u guyz iz there a way i can get in touch with any of the poets

1 1 Reply
READ THIS POEM IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Wyn Cooper

Wyn Cooper

United States / Michigan
Close
Error Success