Racially complex but lacking a poetic feeling (7)
I believe the answer is:
lyrical
'racially complex' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'lacking a poetic feeling' is the wordplay.
'lacking' means to remove the last letter (the word is incomplete or lacking).
'a poetic' becomes 'lyric' (I've seen this before).
'feeling' becomes 'cal' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lyric' with its last letter taken away is 'lyri'.
'lyri'+'cal'='LYRICAL'
'but' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lyrical that I've seen before include "Using poetic or song-like language" , "In poetic words, song-like" , "it can be waxed" , "Enthusiastic - expressing the writer's feelings" , "carried away" .)