Select Poe works to shorten (9)
I believe the answer is:
telescope
'shorten' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'select poe works' is the wordplay.
'works' indicates anagramming the letters.
'select'+'poe'='selectpoe'
'selectpoe' anagrammed gives 'TELESCOPE'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for telescope that I've seen before include "Shrink - optical instrument" , "Instrument to magnify the image of distant objects" , "Magnifier of distant objects" , "Optical instrument magnifying distant objects" , "It magnifies the image of distant objects" .)