Earth Poet's Monthly Digest
April with Joan Didion, Werner Herzog & his ex-wife Martje Grohmann
In our monthly digest, we gather the letters and fragments shared across the Earth Poet Substack and Instagram. This month includes letters on Joan Didion and five rituals to invite a bit of Didion’ cool into your life & How to Have Guts Like Werner Herzog. In our clips, we look at what Joan Didion says about Aggressiveness in Her Writing & What Werner Herzog’s ex-wife Martje Grohmann says about the absence of Herzog in their relationship and how she managed to move on.
Letter 2: Joan Didion Against a Performative Life
On obsession, attention and 5 quiet rituals that invite more presence, less scrolling and the kind of cool Joan Didion lived by.
“I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means.”
— Joan Didion
Creating content is the opposite of art. Ottessa Moshfegh said that, and I’m sure Joan Didion would’ve nodded in agreement.
Didion didn’t write to be seen. She didn’t write to perform. She wrote to understand — to pin down a flicker of thought before it vanished, to give shape to the chaos around her. The act was private, exacting, almost sacred.
She built a life around the work, not the other way around.
And in a time like ours — where selfhood can become a brand and every passing moment is something to document — that feels revolutionary.
Joan Didion on Writing as Her Only Form of Aggression
“Writing is the only way I can be aggressive.” — Joan Didion
“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means.” — Joan Didion
This clip is from the 1970s interview with Joan Didion and Tom Brokaw for NBC gives us a glimpse into the mind of one of the greatest American writers.
View more clips on the Earth Poet Instagram channel…
Letter 3: Having Guts Like Werner Herzog
8 Ways to Cultivate Unhinged Bravery
“You must live life in its very elementary forms. The more you take it as it comes, with all its hardships, the more you find inspiration in it. I’m not an artist. I’m a soldier. I have to fight, I have to conquer, I have to go on, I do not retreat.”
— Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog is be the anti–nepo baby archetype. He is famously self-made, almost mythically so: no Hollywood lineage, no inherited privilege — just raw willpower. He once walked from Munich to Paris when a friend was dying. He stole his first film camera from a film school (later claiming he felt entitled to it because no one was using it).
Martje Grohmann on the impact of Werner Herzog’s absences on their relationship
In this clip from the South Bank Show in 1982 Werner Herzog’s ex-wife Martje Grohmann explores and shares her feelings on being with Werner Herzog and how she slowly detached herself. They ended up splitting in 1985.
“And then suddenly an inward rage seized me…
I waited and waited (…) but I am detached now.”
— Martje Grohmann
View more clips on the Earth Poet Instagram channel…
Thank you for reading & see you on Saturday for our weekly letter.
Much Love
— Earth Poet
Earth Poet is a weekly letter that unpacks quotes from cultural icons — writers, artists, provocateurs — and reflects on what they mean now. Each piece includes journal prompts and grounded takeaways. Free readers receive biweekly essays and midweek digests. Paid subscribers unlock weekly reflections and the monthly Dead Poet Advicecolumn — where voices from the past answer questions from the present.
Image Sources:
Charlie Rose Interview (1992) – Still from Joan Didion's appearance on The Charlie Rose Show.
NBC Interview (1970s) – Clip from a 1970s interview with Joan Didion and Tom Brokaw for NBC.
Burden of Dreams (1982) – Still from the documentary Burden of Dreams, directed by Les Blank and produced by Flowerpicker Films.
South Bank Show (1982) – Clip from Joan Didion’s appearance on The South Bank Show (1982).