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With deadpan humor, the poem distinguishes jail from prison and uses that difference to hint at larger distinctions between brief trouble and lasting consequence.

Its title is part of the joke. 'Perfect Grammar' suggests order, but the real precision here is social and punitive.

Titled 'Perfect Grammar', this deadpan squib draws a fine line between two punishments: going to 'jaul' now and again 'isn't necessarily a bad thing,' but prison is 'another story.' The ironic title points at distinctions of degree, while the kept misspelling 'jaul' and the bare lowercase 'i' undercut any pretense of correctness; the real grammar being parsed is the difference between a scrape and a sentence.