Reader absorbing poem about Government figure (9)
I believe the answer is:
dodecagon
'reader' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'absorbing poem about government figure' is the wordplay.
'absorbing' is an insertion indicator.
'poem' becomes 'ode' (ode is a kind of poem).
'about' becomes 'c' (abbreviation for 'circa').
'government figure' becomes 'dagon' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ode'+'c'='odec'
'odec' inserted within 'dagon' is 'DODECAGON'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dodecagon that I've seen before include "Twelve-sided figure" , "Multilateral arrangement" , "Piece of geometry" .)