This does not relate directly to your question, but i noticed that you use a hash named %para. Are you wanting to seperate the paragraphs? If so then you simply change $/ to 2 newlines. Here is an example that you may modify to meet your needs:

use Data::Dumper;

my @para = do {local $/ = "\n\n"; <DATA>};
print Dumper \@para;

__DATA__
blah blah blah
blah blah blah

blah blah blah
blah blah blah

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
[download]

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)