After small prod, talked (5)
I believe the answer is:
spoke
'talked' is the definition.
('speak' can be a synonym of 'talk')
'after small prod' is the wordplay.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'prod' becomes 'poke' ('poke' can be a synonym of 'prod').
's' next to 'poke' is 'SPOKE'.
(Other definitions for spoke that I've seen before include "Rung" , "Radiating rod" , "Bicycle wheel rod" , "addressed" , "gave address" .)