About
Photo Credit: Jeff Hardin
Greetings! I’m a poet and retired (2020) Professor of English at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.
I have six collections of poetry published or forthcoming:
Moon on the Meadow (Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press), 2008
Two Winters (Georgetown, KY: Finishing Line Press), 2011
Mother Mail (Bombay, India: Hermeneutic Chaos Press), 2017.
Love Poems (Cincinnati, OH: Cherry Grove Press), 2018.
Above the Birch Line (Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press), 2021.
Snow and Sand forthcoming in 2023.
My work has also appeared in several collections (see Anthology Page or Resumé tab).
For a full listing of all my literary journals publications, please open the Resumé page and scroll down to the publications section.
I give poetry readings, book signings, workshops and lectures to interested members of book clubs, in public libraries, bookstores, and cafés.
My B.A. (1977) and M.A. (1979) are in American Literature, drama and women’s studies from Eastern Michigan University. My Ph.D. is in Interdisciplinary Studies (English, Philosophy and Sociology) from Michigan State University (1985).
I’m also a Celtic musician (dulcimer, harp, guitar) and knitter.
I’m married to David Borsheim, have several children and grandchildren, and enjoy all kinds of music, film, dance, classic novels and poetry, and am fluent in American Sign Language.
Welcome to my page!
Pia Taavila-Borsheim, Ph.D.
Pia Taavila-Borsheim, Ph.D. 
Feb 28, 2014 @ 13:17:24
You’re off to a great start here, Pia! Looking very forward to your Poem of the Day entries.
Feb 28, 2014 @ 19:45:14
Thanks, Rubin!! I”m just a neophyte at this, but hey, it’s a start. Hope to see more of your beautiful photographs as well!
Oct 25, 2014 @ 16:01:18
What a wonderful site you have here. And such an impressive CV…professionally, poetically, and personally. Glad to have found this place where poetry, in all its facets, reside.
Oct 25, 2014 @ 16:58:45
Thanks very much! Hope you enjoy the site.
Feb 11, 2015 @ 09:16:55
Thanks, Kurt! I appreciate your kind words!
Feb 27, 2020 @ 10:16:24
Hello Pia! Annie!
I am the new parish secretary of St. Margaret of Scotland Church here in Maggie Valley. As I have been going through the old files & what not, I came across a memoir you submitted to the church of your beloved Uncle Willy back in July 2011, our Fr. Michael William Murphy. I took great delight to find it and read your fond memories of him. I felt as if I were living this memory through your eyes seeing him as you remembered him. I have heard so much about him since my husband Doug & I retired here in December of 2016.
While looking for a house to retire to, we stayed just down the road from St. Margaret’s and I attended Sunday Mass while we were here. I immediately fell in love with this church and knew this was when I wanted to worship. That Sunday one of the hymns for Mass was Amazing Grace,one of my favorite hymns, I took it as a ‘sign’ that this was where we were meant to be in our retirement.
We have embraced the area and its people and understand how your uncle came to chose this site to build his church & become a priest.here. Doug works at South Western Community College and goes to Mass at St. Mary’s in Sylva on Holy Days of Obligation during his work week. So you see, we are under the watchful eye of your beloved Uncle, our beloved Fr. Murphy. I wanted to share that with you & hope it brings you a smile of recognition.