Simon Vinkenoog

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Dutch poet, writer, journalist, performer and editor. Simon was the only child of Hendrik Albert Vinkenoog and Anna Katharina van Meel. After their divorce (1934), he grew up with his mother in Amsterdam (De Pijp). He followed the MULO during the war (-1944) and worked for Publisher Querido. On 11 April 1947 he got a son Robert with Jenny Levèvere, he married his pregnant wife in 1946. They lived with his mother-in-law at Tuinbouwstraat 27, because of lack of houses and money. Within six months they divorced. Simon went back to his mother. He fled his responsibilities as a father, he wrote in his autobiography. In September 1948 he (20) went with the 28 years old Judith Cohen to Paris. Judith had been a visitor of Krishnamurti's summer camps in Ommen before the war and Vinkenoog visited his workshops several times, the last time was in 1975 in Saanen, CH. He married Judith in 1948 and left her in the early fifties for Ferdi "Vera" Jansen who he described in "Zolang te water" (1954). In 1956 he went back to Amsterdam. In Paris he worked for Unesco dealing with books and publications ("Special Requests Documents Officer"). At age 21 he started the literary Magazine "Blurb" (April 1950 -1 June 1951). The eight stencilled numbers contained work of experimental poets. A symbolic ninth and last number, an anthology of the first eight numbers, appeared in 1962. His first poetry bundle was "Wondkoorts" (Wound fever, 1950), together with painter-poet Corneille he published Driehoogballade (1950). He was the editor of the anthology "Atonaal" (atonal) of the so-called Fifties poets. Besides his own poetry, it contained the work of Hans Andreus, Remco Campert, Hugo Claus, Jan G. Elburg, Jan Hanlo, Gerrit Kouwenaar, Hans Lodeizen, Lucebert, Paul Rodenko and Koos Schuur. The illustrations came from Karel Appel and Corneille. In the late fifties and sixties Vinkenoog became a Dutch symbol of the hippy generation, idealising sex, drugs and rock "n" roll. He experimented with LSD under medical supervision since 1959 and fought for the legalization of psychedelic drugs in the Netherlands. On 28 February 1966 Vinkenoog organized the "Poetry in Carré" manifestation, where Jules Deelder and Johnny the Self Kicker break through as performers and poets. In 1966, Ted Klautz asked him to write about LSD experiences in the esoteric magazine "Bres" (breach). He would become a regular contributor and since 1981 Vinkenoog became and editor of "Bres", together with astrologer Martin Boot and Tom Ordelman. On his autobiographical website Webstek Simon Vinkenoog, we can read that he was fascinated by the astrology book "Astrologie anders" of Azgarde (pseudonym of Gary Goldschneider) and the work of Karen Hamaker-Zondag. But he had trouble with delving deep into the esoteric stuff. His motto was: Carpe diem" or "Lust for life". On 24 February 2007 he wrote as Madmaster Calling from Amsterdam: "Those of you who have found their way to this moment in time and space , pse look at my dutch KERSVERS-page which today brings the reader (in English) close to the source of Sufi-thought in the Western world, dating back to the first years, prior to and within the folds of the First World War, of the twentieth century. Having opened my files abt. Mrs Raden Ayu Jodjana, I fell upon an early issue of one of its earliest manifestations (april 1916) of Sufi, A Quarterly Sufi Message, issued in London. In its 28 pages first of all The Sufi Order, its origins, The Sufi Teachings & The Aims of the Sufi Movement in the West. Within these pages are also mentioned the Servants of the Sufi Movement, among whom for Holland Madame Khourshed de Ravalieu, known to me, much later in 1950 until her death in 1981, as Madame Raden Ayou Jodjana, spouse of the Javanese dancer and prince Raden Mas Jodjana. In the same issue, about the Eastern Musicales, held monthly: "Madame Khourshed sang most wonderfully. She has a beautifully developed voice, and is also a very clever teacher of voice production." She was for me a wise spiritual Mother, at a moment in time when lecturing and reading poetry became more and more interesting as energy-transferences, as described in Ed Sanders'poetics, and I visited her weekly to take dictations and transcribe texts, for a book which might still be in the making. Long Live Life Eternal, in the Here & Now. Your whistle-blower Simon Vinkenoog." He wrote this from Mokum, the Jiddish Name of Amsterdam, the city that harbours the most nationalities of the world. On 19 June 2009 he lost his right leg (amputation). He tried to revalidate, but on 10 July 2009 he got a major stroke and went into coma. He died 12 July 2009 1:40 AM in the VU hospital in Amsterdam, a week before his 81th anniversary. Personal Vinkenoog married six women and had many more affairs. His marriages were with: Jenny Levèvere (1946), Judith Cohen (1948), Ilse Monsanto (ca. 1958), Reineke van der Linden (1964), Barbara Mohr (ca. 70/80) and Edith Ringnalda (1989-death). He got four documented children: Robert (11 April 1947), Alexander (1961), Anna-Sunya (1973) and Arthur (1978) from his official spouses. Link to Wikipedia