Local Attorney Ruben O. Valadez Wins Literary Prize
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2019
Eagle Pass attorney Ruben O. Valadez recently earned a Second Place Prize in the Southwest Texas Junior College Creative Arts Contest celebrated in the Spring of 2019 with a poem that he wrote entitled “Two Jabs and a Cross.”
Valadez is a multi-talented individual that enjoys writing literary works, practicing law, journalism, music, teaching, and radio broadcasting in the community.
Valadez is currently an Associate Attorney with the law firm of Langley & Banack where he practices in governmental law, real estate, corporate, school law, and civil litigation.
Below is the full poem entitled “Two Jabs and a Cross” that earned Second Place at the Southwest Texas Junior College Creative Arts Contest:
Two Jabs and a Cross
That’s about all he left me,
When he left, when he left me
White flesh of his palms framing su cara morena,
Open hands pleading for punches to land.
“Asi, Mira-Uno, Uno (you jab with the left)
Y la Mano derecha es Dos (the cross has to land on the chin)
No importa el tamano (His size doesn’t matter he said)
If that cross connects, lo vas a tumbar
The cross always works
La Mano derecha.
I locked the lesson away, in a light-proof sound proof
Pain-proof vault, took it out (when the time was right)
To put my own open hands in front of his nieto.
“Two here, like this
And one here, hard
What comes after? He asked
I don’t know, I said (ya no me acuerdo)
But someday I’ll tell him
After the cross you can choose to stay. ”
By: Ruben O. Valadez, Copyright 2019
Valadez is an honors graduate of Eagle Pass High School, received a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri, earned a Juris Doctor degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law, and a Masters in Education in Administration from Sul Ross State University-Rio Grande College. Valadez is the son of Dolores Marcela Aguirre of Eagle Pass, Texas.
The Eagle Pass Business Journal congratulates attorney Ruben O. Valadez on earning Second Place at the Southwest Texas Junior College Creative Arts and wishes him continued success in all of his pursuits.
