Wife in 3 work, a short poem? (6)
I believe the answer is:
odette
'wife in 3 work' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'a short poem?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'poem?' could be 'ode' (ode is a kind of poem) and 'ode' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for odette that I've seen before include "Part of Swan Lake" , "------ Churchill, French war heroine" , "1950 film about first female to receive George Cross" , "Lover of Swann" , "Female character Swan Lake" .)