Two modules that might do something in the general direction of your wishes (formatting text without special directives or with simple directives) are HTML::FromText and the various Wiki text formatters (have a look at WikiFormat for example). A Wiki formatter in Perl could be Text::WikiFormat by chromatic. I've always liked the way Wikis format their text, but I don't know if the results are good enough for your needs. Matts also has some Wiki modules on the CPAN.

My guess is that you'll have to take (at least) one of these modules, and rip out the HTML generating part and replace it with a generating part of your liking (or directly turn to Matts SAX drivers for his Wiki stuff).

perl -MHTTP::Daemon -MHTTP::Response -MLWP::Simple -e ' ;    # The  
$d = new HTTP::Daemon and fork and getprint $d->url and exit;#spider
($c = $d->accept())->get_request(); $c->send_response( new   #in the
HTTP::Response(200,$_,$_,qq(Just another Perl hacker\n))); ' #  web
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