Previous Inktober pages of mine have involved a List approach: I thought of different ways to “solve” the prompt, i.e. different Rings, Mindlessnesses, and Bait. The Bait page had more coherence because the image sort of tied them together metaphorically.

This time I wanted one image to focus on. The prompt is Freeze. What would suit, and really demonstrate Freezing, and tell a story…Then an awful pun occurred to me. Instead of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” FREEZE a Jolly Good Fellow. And who is the jolliest of the Jolly Good Fellows? Santa Claus, that’s who. And who would be evil enough to freeze Jolly Saint Nick? That quintessential Cartoon Bad Guy, SNIDELY WHIPLASH, wannabe nemesis of Dudley Do-Right of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (I hope the owners of the cartoon regard this page as hommage and not copyright infringement!)

How am I going to get Santa out of this terrible fix, AND produce a coherent Quadruple Acrostic with a consistent rhyme and meter? Well, Santa is Magic. And he travels the world, so he’s worldly. So Zen and the Tao to the rescue–what cynical critics of “Deus ex Machina” solutions to science-fiction cliffhangers once called a “pocket frammistan.” SOMEHOW Santa finds a way, and indeed, the Tao is The Way. (Another bad pun. Someday I’ll get jail time.)

FREEZE a Jolly Gooood Fellow

Frost Bites! and Santa’s got a tricky Standoff
Rock-hard, Jinxed, rigor-mortissed, stone as Shale
Elves cannot help, nor lotion, nor felafel
EXISTlessness would make Miz Santa wail
Zen-tangled, he’ll evoke a thawing Tao
Ew, Snidely–dastardly’s no cat’s meow