Woeful poet I edited, American (7)
I believe the answer is:
piteous
'woeful' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'poet i edited american' is the wordplay.
'edited' is an anagram indicator.
'american' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for United States).
'poet'+'i'='poeti'
'poeti' with letters rearranged gives 'piteo'.
'piteo'+'us'='PITEOUS'
(Other definitions for piteous that I've seen before include "Deserving sympathy" , "Deserving compassion" , "Arousing sorrow and compassion" , "Heart-rending" , "Woeful" .)