Poet Simon Vinkenoog dies at 80

Monday 13 July 2009

Poet, writer and artist Simon Vinkenoog has died in Amsterdam at the age of 80, just one month after having his right leg amputated.

Vinkenoog, who described losing his leg as 'an experience' and filled his website with pictures of his fellow patients, died of a stroke.

The poet, famous for his flowing grey hair, was a symbol of the 1960s and was friends with beat poets such as Alllen Ginsberg, whose work he translated. Last year a collection of his correspondence with Hugo Claus in the 1950s was published.

In 2004 he was chosen as Dichter des Vaderlands, or Poet Laureate.

In 1965 he served six weeks in jail for possessing marijuana, a drug he continued to enjoy until he died. At the 2006 general election he stood for election for a party calling for the legalisation of cannabis.

Vinkenoog was married six times.

© DutchNews.nl

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