The Helpless Romantic
This page is your one-stop shop for everything The Helpless Romantic, a book written by our latest addition to our team of contributors,
.This book features a collection of journal entries presented as poems. The first entry is scheduled to release on Tuesday, August 26th, in our Art Collective section. Future entry’s release dates are subject to change.
Below, you will find details about the Author, Foreword from the Author, Acknowledgements, and a table of contents featuring every current and future entry from the book, as well as their release dates, all of which will be hyperlinked for your convenience.
About the Author
Travis Daniel Salguero was born in Hawthorne California on April 28th, 1990. He lived in California for the better part of four years. He moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1994. He is renowned for his way of words and embodiment of his work. The fear and paranoia of judgement stalled when entering high school with the development and maturity of his body and mind. The questions about life and love were never answered by proper resources, so he did what he thought was best.
Impulsively acting upon any radiating emotions that came out and using such energies to alienate himself from coworkers, friends, and family. The decision to start drinking at fifteen hindered his creativity more and cast any doubt over the validity of his value and worth to others. Crowding his mind increasingly with an abundance of worries and issues that have become a partner in his life. Something he could not shake no matter how much he wrote or how many different canvases he slathered in paint. There was no satisfaction in completing work because besides working on being a better son to his father, he felt there was no room to be loved.
His relationships worsened and the more he put together remnants of himself, he buckled under the stress of it all. The maintenance of a weakening mind had become such a huge burden to hold that there was only one way out. Death. Travis made a promise to himself that if he reached the age of eighteen, that he would hold on longer.
Years came and went; the addiction to alcohol and other drugs became a stranglehold on him. Night after night of hard drinking and waking up in someone else’s home became bewildering to him. One day, he met the love of his life, and ever since then his life became more coherent. Choosing sobriety over burning bridges to the people he cares about most became the catalyst to rebuild his mental health to create again.
Improvements over time show progression, and with recent experience, showed the true strength that he has held onto the entirety of his life. With his debut chapbook “The Helpless Romantic,” Travis provides insights on the darkest times in his life and the progress it took to get where he is today.
Foreword from Author
These pages are fragments of my life — moments I never thought I would share. They hold my childhood, pain, perseverance, and healing. Back then, I wrote every day, hiding my poems because I never thought they were good enough.
Five years sober, I promised myself I would get better.
I am.
Sincerely,
TS Chinchilla
Travis Daniel Salguero
The world talks more openly about mental health now than ever before — how childhood trauma, wounds, and grief shape us. But asking for help can still feel impossible.
I’ve learned it’s never too late to change your story. Healing doesn’t erase what happened; it changes how we carry it.
At the end of this book, I’ve included resources for anxiety, depression, trauma, and suicidal thoughts. Use them. Share them.
This isn’t the end of my journey, and it’s not the end of yours.
You are valued. You are loved.
If young Travis could see me now, he’d be shocked — and maybe proud. I’m happy. I’m creating. I’m living the life he wished for but never thought he’d have.
The stories you’ll read here are about grief — grief for the child I once was, for the connection I lost through years of verbal and physical abuse. They’re about the way every decision afterward was touched by fear, paranoia, and the need to prove myself to others.
Especially to my father.
No matter what I accomplished, it never seemed enough. I lived for someone else’s approval, even at the cost of my own peace. That pressure pushed me toward writing and art as a kind of refuge. But even there, his voice crept in.
This book is what happens when you decide to stop running from that pain and instead give it a place to rest. It’s me making peace with the scars — not erasing them, but accepting them.
At thirty-five, I realized I’d been carrying battles I never stopped fighting. This is me laying them down — in words, in poems, in pieces of myself.
Table of Contents
Entry #1 - These Radical Scars of Mine (8/26/25)
Entry #2 - Escape (Run) (8/26/25)
Entry #3 - Confinement (I Hate You) (8/26/25)
Entry #4 - Anxiety Attacks (Exhausted) (9/2/25)
Entry #5 - Hello, Alcohol? (9/9/25)
Entry #6 - Where Is My Mind? (Play Fair) (TBD)
Entry #7 - A Pause of Reflection and Relief (TBD)
Entry #8 - Tick Tock (TBD)
Entry #9 - Note to Self (TBD)
Entry #10 - A Letter Unsent (TBD)
Entry #11 - Affirmations and Desires (TBD)
Entry #12 - Anxious (TBD)
Entry #13 - Hang-In-There (TBD)
Entry #14 - Regret (TBD)
Entry #15 - Livid Poetry (TBD)
Entry #16 - Joji Boy (TBD)
Entry #17 - Anxiety (Revisited W/ Medications) (TBD)
Entry #18 - Null (TBD)
Entry #19 - Suffer In Silence (TBD)
Entry #20 - Struggles of Sobriety (TBD)
Entry #21 - Hues (TBD)
Entry #22 - Love? (TBD)
Entry #23 - Black Sheep (Deep Seeded Trauma) (TBD)
Entry #24 - Dead Memories (TBD)
Entry #25 - What I Wish I Could Say (TBD)
Entry #26 - What I Hope to Show (TBD)
Entry #27 - WRONG (TBD)
Acknowledgements
Many shaped this book; family, friends who encouraged, and strangers who showed the greatest appreciation for others. My family’s support was unwavering, and for that I am deeply grateful. May all who read these pages be inspired to share the art of wonder and creativity in their own lives.
Please continue to create and share with the world your creations.
The world needs it more than ever, as we have become so divided that no one knows who is truly there for them in dire times of need.
I love you Mom, Luis, Marvin, Charles, and Austin. The best family a man could ever ask for.
I love you A, R, and J. I appreciate the time we spent together, and I pray for many more years to come.
Sincerely,
Travis Daniel Salguero