Protect piece oddly only appearing in verse (6)
I believe the answer is:
poetic
'in verse' is the definition.
(in poetry)
'protect piece oddly only appearing' is the wordplay.
'oddly only appearing' means one should take alternating letters (only the letters in odd-numbered positions).
'protect'+'piece'='protectpiece'
The alternate letters of 'protectpiece' are 'POETIC'.
(Other definitions for poetic that I've seen before include "Ice pot (anag.)" , "Clearly expressed in speech/writing" , "Lyrical or romantic" , "Flowery" , "rhythmical" .)