In a 2020 interview with Angelo Grossi, the Chicano poet Tino Villanueva stated that memory and writing are essential aspects of a poet’s creativity. He relies on them as trustworthy muses to create his poems. Together with these, we think that there are two more elements that represent the backbone of Villanueva’s poetry: travel and mythology. From his first verses to the last of his published collections, we effortlessly perceive the presence of those four key features. Moreover, it is not a simple inclusion of reminiscences about travels he made or mere erudition about myths. Our opinion is that there are different layers of meanings and contexts regarding the concepts of travel, mythology, memory, and writing that are linked no only to Villanueva’s life but also to his perspective on the world, the Chicana/o and Spanish heritage, the act of writing itself. The aim of this study is to highlight how those aspects are constantly reproduced in Villanueva’s poetry, who also stressed the importance of the many types of cultures that enriched his poems even before producing So Spoke Penelope (2013). Therefore, the works that will be examined in light of the preceding considerations are Shaking Off the Dark (1984), Crónica de mis años peores (1987, 1994), and Scene from the Movie GIANT (1993).