Thin dress material poet picked up (5)
I believe the answer is:
toile
'thin dress material' is the definition.
(translucent dressmaking material)
'poet picked up' is the wordplay.
'poet' becomes 'eliot' (TS Eliot).
'picked up' is a reversal indicator.
'eliot' in reverse letter order is 'TOILE'.
(Other definitions for toile that I've seen before include "cheap prototype" , "dress material" , "6 [LINEN]" , "Fabric" , "cloth" .)