While some sang lullabies to their children, the Soleimanis sang revolutionary ballads. In "What a Revolutionary Must Know", the artist draws inspiration from their lyrics: "The red flower of the sun has risen once again, the night has escaped. The mountains are covered with tulips, the tulips are wide awake. They are planting sunshine in the mountains, flower by flower."

Tulips symbolize revolution for leftists in Iran because they are persistent flowers: after weathering the winter storms, dormant in the earth, they return each year in greater numbers. In Soleimani’s photo, tulips spring from behind the snowy peaks of the Zagros, or poke through holes in the sky. Their blossoms surround two chukars, partridges which are native to Iran, and have landed in the artist’s care. In Iranian and South Asia poetry, these mountain-dwelling birds represent love, longing, and resilience; in the past century, they were introduced in the United States as fast-moving game, and those who survived formed their own feral populations. When Soleimani is finished nursing this couple back to health, she will release them. They will rejoin the other wild chukars, those who have learned to outrun the hunters, adding to the growing flock.