In 2026, nicole v basta was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. nicole v basta will lead poetry workshops with adult and teen community members. Participants will engage with the topic of water, the history of local waterways, particularly Cayuga Lake, and the very present and pressing environmental threats to the region’s water and environment, including the potential impact of a planned artificial intelligence data center on Cayuga Lake’s east shore. These workshops will culminate in the publication of an anthology of poems written by the community and printed by a local press, with cover art by a local artist. Its publication will be celebrated with a reading, book launch, and large community gathering. Funds raised through the sale of the anthology will support efforts to stop the TeraWulf data center from being built on Cayuga Lake and also go toward an environmental organization focused on education. This project will aim to gather community members of diverse backgrounds, both from the urban part of Tompkins County and rural areas, as well as those from the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ (Cayuga Nation) diaspora, with the aim of reimagining the possibilities of poetry and conceptualizing new futures that recenter the environment.