Refer to popular verse and contents of funny stories (6)
I believe the answer is:
invoke
'refer to' is the definition.
(invoking is a kind of refering to)
'popular verse and contents of funny stories' is the wordplay.
'popular' becomes 'in' ('in' can mean trendy).
'verse' becomes 'v'.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'contents of' indicates the central letters (I've seen 'content of' mean this).
'funny stories' becomes 'jokes'.
The centre of 'jokes' is 'oke'.
'in'+'v'+'oke'='INVOKE'
(Other definitions for invoke that I've seen before include "Summon into action or bring into existence" , "Call upon in prayer, perhaps for protection" , "Call on or appeal to" , "Call upon in prayer, as for assistance" , "Call on (for inspiration)" .)