Intends me to join a couple of Poles (5)
I believe the answer is:
means
'intends' is the definition.
(meaning is a kind of intending)
'me to join a couple of poles' is the wordplay.
'to join' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a couple of poles' becomes 'ans' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'me'+'ans'='MEANS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for means that I've seen before include "Designs" , "Pecuniary resources" , "has significance" , "Resources or money to support oneself" , "Resources; intends" .)