Goes through back art and bits of poetry (9)
I believe the answer is:
traverses
'goes' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'back art and bits of poetry' is the wordplay.
'back art' becomes 'tr' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'bits of' indicates taking the first letters (I've seen 'bit of' mean this).
'poetry' becomes 'verses' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'and' is 'a'.
'tr'+'a'+'verses'='TRAVERSES'
'through' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for traverses that I've seen is " crosses".)