A poet in a bar was turning (7)
I believe the answer is:
rotated
'turning' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'a poet in a bar' is the wordplay.
'a poet' becomes 'tate' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a bar' becomes 'rod' (both can mean a pole or stick).
'tate' put into 'rod' is 'ROTATED'.
'was' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rotated that I've seen before include "Went round" , "took part in revolution" , "Revolved" , "Had spin" , "Turned around axis or central point" .)