I give talks about death and punishment. In Danish and English, online and in person. When I talk I always engage the audience and encourage everybody to take part in a discussion that has no simple answers.
The main character is a man on death row who I’ve been in contact with since 2016. I went to see him several times, and we write emails and have video visits 2-3 times a month. In the talks, I add context, but I let him explain how it is to spend half your life on death row, why he is there, and what it does to his mind to know the exact date of his death (and how mentally draining it is to get the date postponed).
Don’t hesitate to contact me, if you want to hear more.
It was a fantastic talk by Peter. An intense experience, which contained crime, fear, emotions, violence and longing. Peter delivered it all with humour and gravity, very exciting. Absolutely recommended.
Ellen Rasmussen, Danish Cancer Society
Death is coming
I HAD TO ACCEPT THE FACT
THAT DEATH IS COMING.
AND IT AIN’T NOTHING
I CAN DO ABOUT IT.
I CAN’T FIGHT MY WAY OUT,
I CAN’T DISAPPEAR,
I CAN’T HIDE.
IT’S COMING.
IT TAKE A STRONG PERSON
TO BUILD UP TO THAT POINT, YOU KNOW.
AND IT’S AN INTENSE POINT
THAT YOU GONNA REACH.
THEN IT’S GONNA BE LIKE
A BREAKTHROUGH IN LIFE
THAT YOU GONNA ACCEPT IT.
SO, I MEAN,
YEAH, I WAS SCARED,
I’M STILL SCARED
BUT NOT TO THE POINT
WHERE I WAS.
I’M NOT SUPER AFRAID.
I KNOW I CAN’T STOP IT
SO I JUST GOTTA ACCEPT IT
AND ONCE YOU ACCEPT IT
THEN ALL THAT REAL REAL FRIGHT
GOES AWAY.
The answer to my question: Are you afraid of death? Said 297 days before his execution date (which then was postponed).
I’ve given talks to NGO’s, churches, schools, big companies, a restaurant etc. Though the theme is of course heavy, I try to leave the audience – especially the younger ones – with thoughts that cultivate optimism and maybe even a few smaller changes in their own lives.
Everybody – teachers as well as students – were held spellbound for almost two hours, while we were given something to think about from the real world. To get pulled out of our safe little bubble in Denmark and into a rough and captivating story from death row in the United States, is something we warmly recommend all adults and young people – especially to get a new perspective on your own daily life. Both during and after the talk, teachers and students could ask questions and did so diligently, and even when the talk was over and a long time after Peter had left the school, the students were captured by the gripping story”.
The employees at the social-educational boarding school Kanonen
There are a lot of restrictions on what I can take pictures of when I visit death row. But here is a picture of the prison complex at night; the wall before entering the waiting room; and lastly, the entrance to and a wooden cross from the cemetery. The latter is where all the bodies end up if no one wants them. This is probably what will happen to the guy I talk to.
adanepassedby 