World Hotel, Vazirani's second collection, in which “Daughter-Mother-Maya-Seeta” appears, was brought to the attention of readers of the Washington Post by the poet and columnist Rita Dove, who begins her review of the book by stating that it had been her policy not to feature works by her friends, colleagues, or former students. In the case of Vazirani, who was once a student of Dove's, the columnist writes, “I feel compelled to make an exception in the case of Reetika Vazirani. After all, she was an exception as a student.” The collection, Dove concludes, offers “penetrating portraits from and keen glimpses into a world which—for all its unfamiliar place names and vivid accessories—we recognize as strikingly similar to our own.”

“Daughter-Mother-Maya-Seeta” won the 1999 Pushcart Prize and thus was published in the Pushcart anthology the following year. It also was anthologized in New American Poets...