Spoils poems after a pause (6)
I believe the answer is:
erodes
'spoils' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'poems after a pause' is the wordplay.
'poems' becomes 'odes' (ode is a kind of poem).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'a pause' becomes 'er' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'odes' put after 'er' is 'ERODES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for erodes that I've seen before include "Wears away as by time or water" , "Wears away with weather" , "Eats away" .)