I believe this allows Perl to be regarded as a tool for expressing one's creativity

That it is. While this flexibility is very nice most of the time, it does unfortunately also lead to things like Perl Poetry. (Hi to all the poetry fans out there =P)

Perl's main drawback is that parts of it are irredeemably ugly, complicated, and must be used with caution

You don't blame the brush if you can't paint do you? Yes, encounters with some poorly written code do occasionally turn people off Perl. However, to look at one piece of code, say that's ugly, and write off a language is rather naive. People who are serious about finding the best tool for their job will look a little closer and realize the benefits of such flexibility and how to use it to their advantage.

Update: Also part of the quote you linked to...

Because some limiting design decisions early in Perl's history could not be reversed, many of the more advanced features have a fragile, jerry-rigged feel about them.

That I will agree with.