Oscillator symplectic form of an open string ($\{{\alpha }_j^m,{\alpha }_k^n\}=-ij{\eta }^{mn}{\delta }_{j+k,0}$)

The Fourier kinetic term ${\sum }_{k>0}i{\alpha }_{-k}\cdot {\dot{\alpha }}_k/k$ supplies conjugate pairs, with ${\alpha }_{-k}={\alpha }_k^{\ast }$. Inverting its symplectic form yields the displayed Poisson brackets. Nonzero modes are independent of the center-of-mass pair, while ${\alpha }_0=\sqrt{2{\alpha }^{\prime }}p$ is the momentum zero mode. The imaginary factors are compatible with a real action up to a total derivative.