Michael's collection of poems, We Have to Go Inside, written for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, was praised by the university's committee of emeriti faculty as "masterful and marvelous."   In his poems, Michael connects his rural Philippine childhood with his life in the United States, including the years he spent in eastern Kentucky.   Michael's thesis chair calls his book-length collection of poetry "exceptional in quality and ambition, wonderfully lyrical and deeply meaningful," one that she expects will be published as a book by a "top national press very soon."   Michael's poems capture thematically the "uneasy Asian American experience of immigrating to America" and traverse the "gamut of human emotions from comforting a child to burying a brother."   The emeriti committee further praised Michael's collection for its level of unparalleled "intellectual complexity" and genuine emotional depth.   Michael's graduate faculty agree that his thesis "promises a distinguished literary career that will bring honor to this university."