Bishop meets mere poet (5)
I believe the answer is:
blake
'poet' is the definition.
(William Blake)
'bishop meets mere' is the wordplay.
'bishop' becomes 'B' (chess abbreviation).
'meets' says to put letters next to each other.
'mere' becomes 'lake' (I've seen this before).
'b'+'lake'='BLAKE'
(Other definitions for blake that I've seen before include "English poet and artist, d. 1827" , "Songs of Innocence poet" , "artistic poet" , "Exposed (to the air)" , "William --, English poet/visionary" .)