Michael Hayden offers a poem to Faith Maciorowski of Easthampton that he typed on the topic of her birthday Thursday.

Michael Hayden, left, of Brattleboro reads aloud for Shawn Andrews, 15, of Halifax, Vt., a poem he just created, on the requested topic of chess, on a Smith-Corona Super Sterling manual typewriter set up in front of Guild Art Supply on Main Street in Northampton Thursday afternoon.

Michael Hayden of Brattleboro creates a poem on a topic requested by Lars Andrews of Halifax, Vt., with a Smith-Corona Super Sterling manual typewriter set up on a Main Street, Northampton, sidewalk Thursday afternoon. Hayden also wrote poems for Andrews' brothers, Shawn and Tyler, on the suggested topics of chess and unicycles.

Michael Hayden of Brattleboro types a poem for a patron on Main Street in Northampton Thursday afternoon.