As of 2005, Alexander has produced three books of poetry. The first, The Venus Hottentot, published in 1990, is, according to a reviewer for Publishers Weekly (July 23, 2001), "a stellar debut." However, that work was followed by the less impressive Body of Life (1996), which the same reviewer calls "a relative slump." Antebellum Dream Book, in this reviewer's opinion is first rate, its poems are "aggressively vivid" and "impressive." This reviewer also points out that this book is published by the well-funded Graywolf Press, affording the work better visibility.

A reviewer for the Library Journal (January 2002) identifies "memory and race" as Alexander's main themes. This reviewer emphasizes the African Americans to whom Alexander alludes in the collection: Nat King Cole, Michael Jordon, Muhammad Ali, and Toni Morrison. The reviewer also praises Alexander's poems about giving birth and being a new mother.

Finally, Stephen Burt, writing in the Yale Review (July...