I think your assumption about "-lperl" looking for a static library is mistaken.
I guess this could vary by system, but I am surprised to see only

/usr/lib/libperl.so.5.8
/usr/lib/libperl.so.5.8.8
[download]

Usually for every libFoo.so.x.y, there's a libFoo.so that's a symbolic link to the one with the full version number.
Could there be a problem with your installation?