Vazirani's first award-winning collection, White Elephants (1996), pays special attention to the challenges of assimilation in a new country. The theme of “other” is prevalent in these poems. The writer recalls memories and stories of her homeland and transfers them to her experiences in the United States.

Mother Love (1995), by Rita Dove, gives insight into how Dove's poetry and instruction influenced Vazirani.

Neon Vernacular (1993), by Yusef Komunyakaa—an award-winning poet and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, addresses themes such as the Vietnam War and the loneliness of growing up as an African American in the Deep South.

Vazirani was influenced by the work of the poet Seamus Heaney. Heaney's eleventh book of poems, Electric Light (2001), brings together reflections on Ireland, the poet's family, and the art of poetry. Heaney's sense of the importance of place is also a theme important...