A poet lived in Anson County when Steven Spielberg was there to film The Color Purple, the movie based on Alice Walker’s novel — and it changed how he looked at his home.

By Joseph Bathanti | Illustration by Jillian Ohl

Joseph Bathanti is a former North Carolina Poet Laureate (2012-14), recipient of the North Carolina Award in Literature, and an inductee of the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. The author of over twenty books, he has also received the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. “My wife, Joan, and I lived in Anson County in 1985 when Steven Spielberg was there to film The Color Purple, the movie based on Alice Walker’s electrifying novel. The filming was a life-changing experience for its citizens. Spielberg once remarked that he had chosen unlikely Anson County because of its ‘light and elevation.’”

Jillian Ohl is an artist, illustrator and designer whose art balances fine art and illustration with works on paper and zines examining fashion, pop culture, humor, femininity and sense of place through watercolor, drawing, printmaking and collage. A graduate of NC State and longtime Raleigh resident, she currently lives in Western North Carolina, where she works as an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Western Carolina University. “Illustrating poetry is a unique challenge because you need to tap into the tone and nuance of the words. It’s hard to think about spring when I’m drawing in icy January — but it helps me think it’s not far away!”  

This poem originally appeared in the November 2026 issue of WALTER Magazine.